Just in case you missed it, today, Saturday, October 12, is a holiday in Costa Rica. No Kidding.
Just look out your window, you will see the streets are bare as if it were a Sunday. No maids knocking the door bell at 7am or 8am. The gardeners aren’t out making the early morning ruckus. The buses are running on a holiday schedule. Riteve is closed. And so on…
The “Dia de la Culturas” is a “no pago obligatorio” holiday. It is confusing. It does not mean it isn’t a holiday: it’s a holiday that you get paid extra if you work it.
Let me explain, if you are a weekly salaried employee and do not normally work on a Saturday (like being a holiday today), no big deal. Now this where it gets confusing. If you are called in on the day off, you get paid 1.5 times your salary. But, if you are a salaried employee paid every two weeks or every month, the you get paid double if you are asked to work the holiday. What is important here is that the boss can’t make you work the holiday if you don’t want to.
Now, if you are not on salary, a day worker for example, and you get called in to work, you get the normal wage for the say. That sucks.
Still confused? That’s because you are neither an employee or an employer, for if you were you would have this down cold.
Putting all that aside, this morning in San José is a gorgeous one. Get out, take in a few rays, for it will rain later!
