Costa Rica Real Estate, from Coast to Coast, the Right Way!!!

If you have a maid, a gardener or other employees, by Costa Rica law you need to pay them a Christmas bonus, called "aguinaldo"

By Ivo Henfling, Escazu and Santa Ana Specialist, for the Easy Times.

Back home we couldn't afford a maid or costa rica house keeper, unless it was for a couple of hours a week. Don't you all want to be able to say that you will never have to clean the house yourself, or do the laundry or any other housekeeping issues that you hated all your life but you had to do? When you move to Costa Rica, this is going to be possible.

You'll get yourself a house keeper by the hour, one who comes in the morning and leaves again at night or a live-in housekeeper who will probably become part of your family.

Back home you had to have a gardener to come in once in a while because you had a full time job and you didn't feel like doing yard work on your day off. When you move to Costa Rica, you will be able to afford one, finally.
Or maybe you think it's going to be fun to do it yourself but after a while you find out its no fun and let's hire a gardener.

Maids and gardeners are a lot cheaper to have than they are back home. Yes they are, but most of us don't realize that they have rights too. We don't because most of us have never had an employee in our life and never had the obligations of an employer and that's what I want to tell you all about today.

So what do you pay a maid, a house keeper or a gardener? I have seen hour, weekly and bi-weekly salaries all over the map. It depends a bit on where you are located, even though the minimum salaries are regulated by law and the Ministry of labor:

The Ministry of Labor gives a minimum salary in 2010 for a house keeper of ¢7,193.97 per day or ¢214,698.89 a month plus food. A Costa Rica gardener would have the same salary.

How do you calculate the aguinaldo?

The worker must receive a full monthly average salary, which is obtained by adding all the ordinary and extraordinary wages, earned by the employee during the twelve months from December of the previous year until November of the year in question, divided by twelve.

To calculate this bonus you should include the "normal hours" and "overtime" as well as any salary payment was made in the period. You should also consider "wages in kind" which means food and roof which is deemed equivalent to fifty percent of the salary the employee has received.

So it doesn't matter if your house keeper or gardener has worked one hour a day or 48 hours a week, the calculation is exactly the same.

If they have worked for you only for 3 months for example, you add the three months of salary and divide it by twelve. 

You do not have to pay or charge Social Security on this bonus.

When do you have to pay this Christmas bonus?

This bonus has to be paid within the first 20 days of December of each year.

What happens if your housekeeper or gardener leaves before the end of the year?

In this case, the employee is entitled to be paid one twelfth for each month worked, based on the average of ordinary and extraordinary wages earned in the months that he/she has served (total wages divided by twelve), taking into account the parameters already mentioned.