This past July 25 the changes to the Labor Procedural Law of Costa Rica (Reforma Procesal Laboral) entered into force; this is the biggest change this law has seen since the Labor Code was published in 1943.

The modification of this law involved the derogation of 16 articles, the incorporation of 89 new ones and changes to almost half the original code.

If you have business in Costa Rica or work in the country, it is very important that you get familiar with this changes if you haven’t already, and learn all about its implications to avoid problems with your employees and for your company or to know what your rights are and how to defend them.

The main objective of the changes had to do with making the processes more efficient, bringing down the time it takes for a labor case to be solved; up until recently a labor dispute could take even decades to get resolved; with this purpose new principles of conciliation and arbitration have been incorporated.

For workers that can’t afford an attorney (those whose salary is under ¢902 thousand colones, approximately $1,570.00) the State is providing free legal assistance.

Employers have the responsibility of properly and thoroughly document all their legal procedures and internal procedures regarding their employee-employer relationship in order to have the necessary proof in an eventual dispute.

Discrimination is one of the main changes; article 404 of the labor code now enlists 14 forms of discrimination, including, gender, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual preference, disabilities, etc. This forces employers to be more careful in their recruiting process as well as promoting a healthy work environment to promote equal conditions and have clear profiles of each position that needs to be filled. Work contracts must also be clear.

When an employer decides to fire a worker the general dismissal letter stating “internal restructuring”, or other unspecific reasons to terminate the labor relationship, are no longer permitted; the dismissal letter must now be given to every employee who is being let go WITHOUT employer responsibility (with legal justification) and it must be personalized, indicating the reasons for their dismissal and the legal backing justifying the decision. In the case of employees that are being fired with employer responsibility (getting paid their severance in full) the conditions remain as they did before, where the dismissal letter can be given to the employee if he or she requests it.

The Ministry of Work and the Judiciary System have gone through a process of preparing for these changes. Since July of 2016 over 700 people have been trained and as of July 26 a total of 231 new positions were opened out of which 79 are for attorneys who will be providing free legal assistance, other positions are for the personnel involved in the arbitration and conciliation processes. Electronic files were implemented in 52 offices and 22 new locations were opened to function as legal offices, while other rooms were adapted for oral trails.

In order to get all the information regarding changes to the labor code get adequate assistance from your attorney and make sure your human resources staff and key personnel receive necessary training to get familiar with the new rules and know how to conduct themselves within the new legal frame. Workers can get their questions answered by contacting the Ministry of Work. See http://www.axiomalegal.com for labor law advice, English spoken.