Costa Rica Limits 12-Hour Shifts to Private Firms as Deputies Shield Public Workers
COSTA RICA · POLITICS
Key Facts
—What happened: Deputies voted to exclude public-sector employees from Costa Rica’s planned 4×3 reform of the Labour Code.
—How it works: The 4×3 scheme allows 12-hour shifts on four days a week, in exchange for three full days of rest.
—Who it applies to: Only private companies running 24-hour production cycles would be able to use the longer shifts.
—The catch: The reform is still a bill that has not passed, so the new shifts do not legally exist yet.
—The backdrop: Homicides hit a record 905 in 2023, but 2026 is tracking below 800 for the first time since the surge.
—What comes next: Deputies keep debating the bill, which the government sells as an investment magnet after 20 years of trying.
Costa Rica’s long-fought 4×3 labour reform now covers private firms only, after deputies voted to keep the state’s own workers out of 12-hour shifts. The vote lands in a tense week, with a Wall Street Journal investigation on drug violence rattling the country even as killings decline.
What the deputies decided
The Legislative Assembly approved a motion that expressly excludes public-sector employees from the 4×3 reform. The change was reported on 28 August by the San José daily La República.
The 4×3 scheme would amend the Labour Code, known locally as the Código de Trabajo. It lets staff work 12 hours a day for four days, then take three full days off.
After the vote, the schedule would apply only to private companies with 24-hour production cycles. State workers stay on their current schedules whatever happens to the bill.
Juan Manuel Quesada, deputy whip of the governing party Pueblo Soberano, defended the carve-out. He said it dismantles the fear campaign that unions and the opposition Frente Amplio party built around the project.
He named union leader Albino Vargas directly. Critics, Quesada said, can no longer claim the state will impose 12-hour days on its own employees.
Why the government wants 12-hour shifts
The official case is economic. Quesada argues the schedules will raise competitiveness, attract investment and create jobs under clear rules.
The target is firms that run around the clock, from call centres to medical-device plants. The country has debated versions of this reform for more than 20 years.
For foreign readers, the stakes are familiar. The country competes for nearshoring investment against Mexico and its Central American neighbours, and flexible shifts are part of the pitch.
Unions answer that 12-hour days erode rest and family life, however many free days follow. The public-sector exclusion removes their loudest argument, but not their opposition.
A maximum-security prison and the drugs war behind it
The labour fight unfolds against a security debate. The government is building a maximum-security prison modelled on El Salvador’s giant Terrorism Confinement Centre, known as CECOT.
The logic is a regional one. Governments from San Salvador to Quito now promise voters order through mass incarceration, and San José is testing that model in a stable democracy.
Not everyone buys it. Robert Muggah of the Igarapé Institute, a Brazilian research group, told the Wall Street Journal that the country faces embedded transnational organisations, not street gangs, and that building prisons will not resolve it.
Stephen Madden, who directs the country’s Drug Enforcement Police, counters that the strategy works. He points to a hundred new officers over two years and drug seizures back at 2021 levels.
The Wall Street Journal alarm, and what the numbers say
The Journal’s report, published on 27 August and reported from the port city of Limón, describes a political civil war. It sets President Laura Fernández and her party against the judiciary over drug violence.
The paper traces the surge to the Moín container terminal, opened in 2019 outside Limón. The US State Department has called Costa Rica the leading transshipment point for South American cocaine since 2020.
Its headline figure is a 50 percent rise in homicides since 2020, close to Mexico’s murder rate. The official record supports the climb, from 570 killings in 2020 to a record 905 in 2023.
What the framing misses is the current year. The country counted 520 homicide victims as of 24 August, against 570 in the same stretch of 2025, the Tico Times reported.
The daily average has fallen from 2.5 killings in 2023 to 1.9. The Judicial Investigation Agency, the police body known as the OIJ, projects a 2026 close between 693 and 766.
The decline is uneven. Cartago, Puntarenas and Limón provinces edged up this year, while the other four provinces fell.
The political fight is real, whatever the trend. Fernández, in office since May, accuses the judiciary of infiltration by organised crime and has moved to cut its budget by tens of millions of dollars.
Attorney General Carlo Díaz warned the cuts favour organised crime. The UN special rapporteur on judicial independence has publicly registered concern, and citizens have marched in support of the courts.
What to watch from here
The first marker is the bill itself. The 4×3 project still needs final approval before any 12-hour shift becomes legal.
The second is the union response. Strikes and street protests have killed labour reforms in Costa Rica before.
The third is the year-end homicide count. A close below 700 would strengthen the government’s hand, while a late surge would strengthen the Journal’s.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Costa Rica’s 4×3 shift law?
It is a proposed reform of the Labour Code that would allow 12-hour shifts on four days a week, in exchange for three days of rest. It targets private companies with 24-hour production cycles.
Are public-sector workers included in the 4×3 reform?
No. Deputies approved a motion that expressly excludes public-sector employees, so state workers keep their current schedules even if the bill passes.
Is the 4×3 law already in force in Costa Rica?
No. The reform remains a bill under debate in the Legislative Assembly. No 12-hour shift under the new scheme is legal yet.
What did the Wall Street Journal say about Costa Rica?
The Journal reported that drug killings have fractured the political system, setting President Laura Fernández against the judiciary. It linked the violence to the Moín container terminal, opened in 2019.
Are homicides in Costa Rica rising or falling?
Both, depending on the baseline. Killings rose about 50 percent from 2020 to a record 905 in 2023, but 2026 is tracking between 693 and 766, the lowest since the surge began.
Connected Coverage
We covered the start of the prison project in Costa Rica Starts Building Mega-Prison to Challenge Cartel Power.
Sources: La República, 28 August 2026; Tico Times, 27 August 2026, reporting on the Wall Street Journal investigation and Judicial Investigation Agency data; Hora Cero, February 2026.
This article was drafted with automated assistance and reviewed before publication. How we use AI · Report an error
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