The seniority bonus is the right that the worker achieves due to its permanence and years of service, it is a reward of 12 days of salary per labored year. In view that one of its objectives is to avoid the desertion of workers, the seniority bonus can only proceed and be derivable when the working relation ends.
The seniority bonus is a right of the employees who resign from their jobs, and who have at least fifteen years of service; likewise, it must be paid to employees who are dismissed, regardless of the cause and their seniority.
Taking into consideration that dynamism is a natural principle of Labor Law, Senator Cristóbal Arias Solís has presented a bill initiative to reduce from 15 years to 12 years the years of seniority necessary to be able to perceive this right, in the case that a worker separates from his work. In this sense, the Senator also proposed to amplify the rights of the worker’s sector, increasing the days of salary that should be covered per labored year, from 12 to 15 days.
What is relevant from this bill initiative, is that it modifies the Federal Labor Law. Still, it also has the purpose to add fraction IX Bis to Article 123 of the Constitution, to establish to the highest level the imprescriptibility of the seniority bonus. The prior is based on the argument that it is a reward that derives from the work made through the lapse of time and consequently, it has no reparative nature.
Today, Federal Labor Law establishes that the worker has one year to judicially ask for his seniority bonus, once the working relationship has ended. Nevertheless, with this reform, the worker could request for the seniority bonus at any time, or even in the event of death, the beneficiaries could demand it in a written manner.
Currently, the initiative to amend Article 123 of the Constitution and Article 162 of the Federal Labor Law is about to be referred to the committee and, if it proceeds, must be voted in the plenary session of the Senate. However, the legislative process is still half way through, since in order to be published so it can enter into force, it also requires the approval of the second house, which in the present case is the Chamber of Deputies.
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