There are certain responsibilities that must be fulfilled in order to have a healthy working relationship between every employer and his employees, this is usually the rule all around the world and Costa Rica is no exception. The Labor Code broadly regulates the relationship between employer and employees and clarifies the obligations of both within the labor relationship. In this article we focus on the employer’s responsibilities.

 Registration with the CCSS or Caja 

Among the fundamental responsibilities that the employer must fulfill, the registration with the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS or Caja in Spanish) stands out. This is an obligation that all employers have and that is fundamental since in our country there are social charges that apply to the monthly salaries of all citizens as employees, that is, they enjoy the benefit of belonging to a payroll, these social charges are given through deductions in salaries and solidarity contributions by the employer. This division consists in that the employee must contribute 10.5% of his salary while the employer must contribute 26.5% of the salary of each of his employees.

To comply with the aforementioned, the employer must submit the updated form every month within the platform called Virtual Office of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund to comply with the employer’s obligation to pay the solidarity contribution to the Caja. Within the information that you must provide month by month, in addition to updating the information of existing employees, you must add all new employees and report their salary, this should be done on the first business day of each month. It should be noted that failure to submit the requested information month by month in the established time may generate financial penalties.

Insurance Policies

Another obligation of great importance related to keeping employees insured from any injury they may suffer during the performance of their work, and regulated in the labor code in article 193 which establishes that all employers regardless of if it is in public or private law, it is obliged to insure its employees before the National Insurance Institute with a Work Risk insurance policy, that is, every employer must acquire this policy to insure their employees, it must be subscribed in any branch of the National Insurance Institute and must be updated every month through the virtual platform that this institution has allocated for this process. The policy must be subscribed for the type of work to be carried out, as with the form in the Costa Rican Social Security Fund, it must be submitted and updated every month adding the new employees, as well as removing those who are no longer part of the company.

The two requirements mentioned above are mandatory for every employer and failure to comply with them expose you to sanctions of different types, from economic sanctions by the institutions to civil sanctions for failing to comply with the mandatory requirements to be an employer.

Within our Labor Code we can observe the regulation of other obligations that all Costa Rican employers have, these are established in article 69 of the aforementioned Code which decrees that it will be the obligation of every employer:

• Send in the first days of January and June of each year a report to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security which must include total expenses for salary concepts in the previous semester, separating the exits for ordinary and extraordinary jobs, as well as names and surnames of their employees with their respective qualities and salary that they have received during that period.

• Prioritize, in equal circumstances, Costa Ricans and those who have served well previously, that is, who have previously performed their duties satisfactorily.

• Save workers their due consideration by refraining from mistreating verbally or in any other way.

• Provide the workers with the tools, instruments and materials necessary to carry out their work, it is their obligation to provide these materials and that they are of good quality and replace them once they are no longer efficient, as long as the employer has indicated that they will provide the instruments and materials and should not use personal ones.

• Provide a safe place to store the worker’s instruments and supplies when they must remain in the workplace.

• Allow inspection and surveillance by the labor authorities in the company to ensure compliance with the provisions of this code and with all the obligations established by the labor code.

• Pay the worker the corresponding salary on time and include the time they lost if they were unable to work because of the employer.

Just as there are obligations that the employer has, there are also a series of actions and practices that are totally prohibited to employers and these are:

• Force its workers to buy their consumer items from certain establishments or people.

• Demand or accept money from their employees as a form of gratitude or to be admitted to a job or for any other privilege or concession that is directly or indirectly related to general working conditions.

• Force employees to resign or withdraw from unions or any other legal group to which they belong or attempt to influence their political decisions or religious convictions.

• Retain the tools or objects of the worker, either as compensation, guarantee or any other non-transferring property.

• Make collections or subscriptions in work establishments.

• Having or carrying weapons in the workplace, except in special cases that are expressly authorized.

• Direct the work in a drunken state or under any other analogous condition.

• Carry out or execute any act that restricts the rights that the worker has under the law.

• Require as a method of permanence or as a reason for hiring HIV tests, the only reason the employer could request blood tests is that there is a medical criterion indicating the need for this.

From the position of an employer, it is crucial to have these points clear before starting the hiring process and forming new labor relationships, in order to comply with all the duties and obligations established in the Labor Code. In general, the responsibilities seek to regulate and maintain a healthy working relationship between the employer and the employee and in this way facilitate the hiring process when you decide to create your company and you must start to train that workforce that will help you develop the work of the business.