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Insurance employees
abandoning the ship


By the A.M. Costa Rica staff


More than 225 employees have quit the nation's insurance monopoly this week, officials said Thursday.

The employees are leaving because they think that the Sala IV constitutional court will decide to put a top on the severance pay they now get. Now the employees when they leave get a year's pay for each year they have worked at the agency, the Instituto Nacional de Seguros.

Other agencies pay a similar amount up to eight years, but employees of the institute known as INS have negotiated a special deal over the years. The special payment apparently is valid even if the employee is fired for cause.

Some of those who have quit this week are entitled to amounts up to $300,000. The action this week highlights the special benefits many public employees have been receiving.

The Sala IV in the last two weeks have decided a number of cases that have been brought challenging the constitutionality of special deals for public employees. The court ordered, for example, that employees of the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, the electric company, have to pay full price for household power use. They had been paying one-half.

The Sala IV also ordered the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social to collect full social security payments from its employees.

INS is one of those state institutions whose employees have been opposed to the free trade treaty because the agreement would open the insurance market to private competition. The agency also has been criticized for its abundance of paperwork.

The exit of employees may produce a streamlining effect on the organization. Officials are planning to review the employment needs of the organization over the next 30 days.

Employees rallied briefly at the INS building in north San José Thursday. Officials said they had plenty of money to pay off exiting employees. INS employees include firemen and accident inspectors who show up at even minor mishaps.