San José dismisses official without employer liability for 24 absences

The Municipality of San José resolved to impose the sanction of dismissal without employer liability on the official Hernán Chacón García, from the Collection Services Section, for unjustified absences from work during 24 days of February 2026. The decision is contained in resolution MSJ-ALCALDIA-2897-2026, signed by Mayor Luis Diego Miranda Méndez, and is published in La Gaceta No. 180 on Thursday, September 24, 2026, pages 150 and 151, under official reference IN202601122654. The sanction is effective as of the publication of the resolution in the Official Gazette.

The case was processed under disciplinary file No. 40-28-26, opened following official letter SSR-0117-2026 dated March 10, 2026, signed by engineer Juan Carlos González Aragón, head of the Collection Services Section. The directing body recalled that failures in the duty of punctual attendance are of “mere verification,” precisely due to their nature and the attendance controls maintained by the employer, in this case the Municipality of San José, with reports from supervisors every fifteen days to the time control office.

Absences and the Regulatory Framework

The days of absence that the directing body considered proven are as follows:

• 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28 of February 2026, for a total of 24 days.

The resolution invokes the following breached regulations:

• Article 159 of the Municipal Code.
• Article 112 literal f) of the Autonomous Regulation of Organization and Services of the Municipality of San José, which establishes dismissal without employer liability as the maximum sanction.
• Article 71 literal b) of the Labor Code, regarding the obligation to perform work with intensity, care, and diligence, and in the agreed form, time, and place.
• Article 90 numeral 2) of the same Autonomous Regulation, referring to the duties of municipal servants.

The Disciplinary Process

The notification of charges was communicated via resolution at 10:00 hours on March 11, 2026, notified by publication in La Gaceta because the official was not located at his place of work or his residence. In that notification, he was warned that, if the fault were proven, the directing body could recommend to the mayor the imposition of dismissal without employer liability, and he was granted a period of ten business days to present an initial defense.

The worker did not present an initial defense. Subsequently, by resolution at 11:00 hours on April 22, 2026, an oral and private hearing was convened for 08:30 hours on May 19, 2026, an appointment to which the official also failed to appear. The Labor Relations Board, through official letter JRL-098-2026, issued its recommendation maintaining the position of the governing body, namely, to impose dismissal without employer liability.

The resolution and the appeals

Based on the factual and legal reasons set forth, the Office resolved to “Impose the Sanction of Dismissal without Employer Liability on Mr. Hernan Chacón García for incurring unjustified absences from work” during the indicated days. The publication of the resolution is the responsibility of the Communications Section, which must promptly inform the Processing and Registration Section once completed.

The communication allows for the resources of revocation and appeal, which must be filed before the Office within a period of eight business days starting from the day following its receipt; in the event that the appeal is escalated, it would be resolved in a judicial venue. The document was signed in San José on August 20, 2026, by Carmen Edgell Matus, head of the Institutional Communication Section, and by Mayor Luis Diego Miranda Méndez.

The relevance of the case is twofold for readers: it confirms that repeated unjustified absence can lead to the maximum labor sanction in local government, and it shows the criterion of “mere verification failure” that the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice has supported, according to which it is the worker’s responsibility to justify their absence to the employer immediately. In the same edition, another dismissal without employer liability due to absences is published, that of official José Adrián Hernández Alfaro, from the Works Development and Maintenance Section, processed under file 56-21-26 and resolution MSJ-ALCALDIA-3473-2026, which evidences a sustained disciplinary line of the Municipality of San José regarding attendance.

Source: La Gaceta, No. 180 of September 24, 2026, section I (Municipalities), pp. 150-151 (official reference: IN202601122654).