Being an employer carries a great responsibility to your workers, so at ERP Lawyers we want you to know the basic regulations of the Labor Code that as an employer you shall accomplish in order to avoid any legal consequences regarding this matter.

Employers’ rights and responsibilities

As expressed in Articles 2 and 3 of the Labor Code:
Article 2: The employer is any physical or legal person, private or public, who employs the services of another or others, under a work contract, expressed or implicit, verbal or written, individual or collective.
Article 3: Intermediary is any person who employs the services of another or others to carry out some work for the benefit of an employer. The intermediary, shall be jointly and severally liable for the management of the employee, for the legal effects that deriving from the Labor Code, its Regulations and the social security provisions.
Therefore, at the moment that a written or verbal employment contract exists, the employer must comply with:
•Grant the minimum wage,
•Insure the employees,
•Give vacations,
•Give early unemployment warnings and work benefits,
•Pay overtime hours from 48 hours a week, double payment on holidays and disabilities due to pregnancy.

Among the Basic regulations it is emphasized that dismissals must be justified:

According to Article 12 of the aforementioned lawy, employers are prohibited from dismissing their workers or taking any other type of reprisals against them, in order to prevent from seeking the help of the authorities responsible for ensuring compliance with and application of the present Labor Code, its Regulations and its related laws.
It is also important to know what is stipulated in Article 28 regarding the termination of a work contractwithout just cause, giving notice to the other party with the following rules:
a)After continuous work of not less than three months nor more than six, with a minimum of one week in advance.
b)After a continuous work that exceeds six months and is not more than a year, with a minimum of fifteen days in advance; and
c)After a year of a continuous work with a minimum of one month in advance.
Such notices shall always be in a writing; but if the work contract was verbal, the employee may give it in the same way if he does it before two witnesses; and may be omitted, without prejudice to the severance payment, by either party, by paying the other an amount equal to the salary corresponding to the previous periods.

During the term of the notice, the employer will be obliged to grant a day off to the worker, every week, to seek for another job.
Based on the terms of relations between employer and employee, it’s important for you to know what the following two articles stipulate:
Article 32: The employer may expressly or tacitly waive the rights granted by Articles 28 and 31. The waiver shall be presumed by law as long as there is not a claim within thirty days from the date on which the worker terminated the contract.

Article 35: At the expiration of any contract of employment, for any reason that terminates, the employer, at the request of the worker, must give him a certificate that expresses:
a)The dates of its entry and of its departure;
b)The type of work performed;
c)The way he worked; and
d)The reasons for the withdrawal or termination of the work contract.

If an employer fails to comply with, he / she must negotiate an agreement with the employee. In the event that an agreement is not reached, the MTSS is referred to a hearing to seek an agreement; if the agreement is not reached, a lawsuit should be filed.
Remember also that the letter of dismissal is a formality and will always be required to deliver.
Contact an Expert of ERP Lawyers If you have any questions regarding the labor law in Costa Rica.