Costa Rica severance: cesantía by the art. 29 table, up to 8 years, plus the preaviso
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 16 Oct 2026.A worker in Costa Rica earning an average ₡600,000 a month who is dismissed without just cause after 5 years and 6 months is owed 21.24 days of salary per year, 106.2 days at ₡20,000, ₡2,124,000 of cesantía. If the employer skips the notice, a month of preaviso adds ₡600,000, ₡2,724,000 in all.
2026 · Rates and rules read from Código de Trabajo de Costa Rica, art. 28, 29 and 30, current text (SCIJ, Procuraduría General de la República) on 16 Oct 2026; they may have changed since.
Type the average monthly salary of your last six months, before deductions.
Enter the date you started and your last day of work.
Say whether the employer gave you the notice or paid it instead.
Read the years counted, the days of the table, the cesantía, the preaviso and the total.
When an employer in Costa Rica ends an open-ended contract without just cause, the Código de Trabajo owes the worker two amounts: the auxilio de cesantía and, unless the notice was worked, the preaviso. This page works out both from your salary and dates, each step shown.
Preaviso (article 28). One week of notice after 3 to 6 months of continuous work, 15 days after more than 6 months up to a year, and one month after a year. The employer can skip the notice by paying the salary of that period.
Cesantía (article 29). 7 days of salary after 3 to 6 months, 14 days after more than 6 months and under a year. From one year, the table sets the days per year by the years of service: 19.5 for one year, 20 for two, 20.5, 21, 21.24, 21.5, then 22 for seven to nine years, 21.5, 21, 20.5, and 20 days from thirteen years. A fraction over six months counts as a year, and no more than the last 8 years are paid.
The base (article 30). The average salary of the last six months, or of the time worked if shorter. The daily salary is that monthly average divided by 30, the way the Ministerio de Trabajo calculates it.
How the page reads the table. The row is chosen by your years of service and its days are multiplied by those years, at most 8: five years pay 5 × 21.24 days, fifteen years pay 8 × 20.
Not included. Aguinaldo, unused vacation days, salary still owed, fixed-term contracts (article 31) and better terms in a collective agreement. A resignation or a dismissal with just cause pays neither amount. An estimate from the law, not legal advice.
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Take the average monthly salary of the last six months, divide it by 30 for the daily salary, and multiply by the days article 29 grants: 7 days after 3 to 6 months, 14 days under a year, then the table's days per year times the years of service, at most 8.
Eight years of service at most. The highest row of the table is 22 days per year for seven, eight or nine years, so the largest cesantía is 176 days of salary. From thirteen years the row is 20 days, 160 days in all.
When the employer ends the contract without just cause and does not give the notice in writing. The amount equals the salary of the notice period: a week after 3 months, 15 days after 6 months, a month after a year.
A fraction over six months counts as a whole year. Five years and six months is five years; five years, six months and a day is six years, which also moves you to the next row of the table.
Not for an ordinary resignation or a dismissal with just cause. Article 29 pays it on a dismissal without just cause, on the causes of article 83 that let the worker leave with rights, and on other endings beyond the worker's will.
Aguinaldo, unused vacation days and salary still owed, which make up the rest of a liquidación; fixed-term contracts, which follow article 31; and better amounts from a collective agreement. Cesantía is paid even if you start a new job at once.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
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