{
  "id": "nexus-ext-1-0034-358680",
  "citation": "Res. 00061-2023 Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo Sección IV",
  "section": "nexus_decisions",
  "doc_type": "court_decision",
  "title_es": "Despido de funcionaria bancaria por instruir nombramientos ilegales sin concurso ni requisitos",
  "title_en": "Dismissal of bank employee for ordering illegal appointments without competition or qualifications",
  "summary_es": "El Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo Sección IV, por voto de mayoría, declaró sin lugar la demanda de una funcionaria bancaria que impugnaba su despido. La actora alegaba vicios en el procedimiento administrativo disciplinario, prescripción de la facultad sancionatoria y violación de derechos laborales fundamentales. El tribunal consideró que no se le investigó ni sancionó por haber efectuado nombramientos ilegales directamente, sino principalmente por haber girado órdenes a su personal subalterno para esos nombramientos, a sabiendas de su ilegalidad o del desajuste con la normativa interna del banco. La conducta, consistente en omitir la advertencia de que sus instrucciones conducían a actos ilegítimos, implicó una falta grave y una pérdida de confianza objetiva que justificó el despido sin responsabilidad patronal. Se rechazaron todos los argumentos de la parte actora y se confirmó la legalidad del acto administrativo de cese, con especial análisis de la figura del artículo 109 de la Ley General de la Administración Pública sobre la obligación de advertir las consecuencias de las órdenes ilegales.",
  "summary_en": "The Contentious-Administrative Tribunal, Section IV, by majority vote, dismissed the claim of a bank employee who challenged her dismissal. The plaintiff alleged procedural defects in the disciplinary process, statute of limitations, and violations of fundamental labor rights. The tribunal found that she was not investigated or sanctioned for directly making illegal appointments, but rather for having ordered her subordinates to make such appointments, knowing of their illegality or non-compliance with the bank's internal regulations. Her conduct, which consisted of failing to warn that her instructions led to illegitimate acts, constituted a serious fault and a loss of objective trust that justified dismissal without employer liability. All the plaintiff's arguments were rejected, and the legality of the termination was confirmed, with a detailed analysis of Article 109 of the General Public Administration Law regarding the duty to warn about the consequences of illegal orders.",
  "court_or_agency": "Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo Sección IV",
  "date": "2023",
  "year": "2023",
  "topic_ids": [
    "_off-topic"
  ],
  "primary_topic_id": "_off-topic",
  "es_concept_hints": [
    "nombramientos ilegales",
    "pérdida de confianza objetiva",
    "artículo 109 LGAP",
    "falta grave",
    "sanción disciplinaria",
    "prescripción",
    "despido sin responsabilidad patronal"
  ],
  "concept_anchors": [
    {
      "article": "Art. 109",
      "law": "Ley General de la Administración Pública"
    }
  ],
  "keywords_es": [
    "despido bancario",
    "nombramientos ilegales",
    "sanción disciplinaria",
    "pérdida de confianza",
    "artículo 109 LGAP",
    "falta grave",
    "derecho laboral público",
    "procedimiento administrativo sancionatorio",
    "prescripción",
    "funcionaria bancaria",
    "Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo",
    "voto de mayoría",
    "sin lugar"
  ],
  "keywords_en": [
    "bank dismissal",
    "illegal appointments",
    "disciplinary sanction",
    "loss of trust",
    "Article 109 LGAP",
    "serious misconduct",
    "public employment law",
    "administrative disciplinary procedure",
    "statute of limitations",
    "bank employee",
    "Contentious-Administrative Tribunal",
    "majority vote",
    "dismissed"
  ],
  "excerpt_es": "\"V. [...] 10. [...] ya analizamos y resulta claro además, que a la aquí actora no se le investigó, ni sancionó administrativamente por haber efectuado nombramientos ilegales, como sí, en su lugar y exclusivamente, por haber girado órdenes en tal sentido a su personal subalterno, y haber omitido pese conocer de tal ilegalidad o desajuste con la normativa interna del Banco para el que laboraba, el advertir que tal orden conducía a la adopción de actos de nombramiento ilegales o ilegítimos, porque se trató de nombramientos que en este sentido gestionó en lo conducente en ausencia de concurso y porque en algunos casos, dichos nombramientos en relación con los que intervino gestionando órdenes o instrucciones, lo fueron respecto de personas que no reunían la totalidad de los requisitos jurídicamente exigidos para ello -lo que se concretó en efecto- sin advertir nada al respecto previamente conforme la Ley, específicamente conforme lo dispuesto en el artículo 109 de la Ley General de la Administración Pública -insistimos nuevamente- de admitirse que siguió órdenes de sus superiores, como ella lo afirmó al menos en sede administrativa.\"",
  "excerpt_en": "\"V. [...] 10. [...] we have already analyzed and it is also clear that the plaintiff here was not investigated or administratively sanctioned for having made illegal appointments, but rather, instead and exclusively, for having issued orders in that regard to her subordinate staff, and for having omitted, despite knowing of such illegality or discrepancy with the internal regulations of the Bank for which she worked, to warn that such order led to the adoption of illegal or illegitimate appointment acts, because these were appointments that in this sense she managed in the absence of a competitive process and because in some cases, those appointments in which she intervened by managing orders or instructions were for persons who did not meet all the legally required qualifications for the position —which indeed materialized— without warning anything in advance in accordance with the Law, specifically in accordance with the provisions of Article 109 of the General Public Administration Law —we insist once again— even if it were admitted that she followed orders from her superiors, as she claimed at least in the administrative proceedings.\"",
  "outcome": {
    "label_en": "Denied",
    "label_es": "Sin lugar",
    "summary_en": "The claim of the bank employee against her dismissal was denied, confirming the legality of the administrative termination act due to serious misconduct and loss of objective trust.",
    "summary_es": "Se declara sin lugar la demanda de la funcionaria bancaria contra su despido, confirmándose la legalidad del acto administrativo de cese por falta grave y pérdida de confianza objetiva."
  },
  "pull_quotes": [
    {
      "context": "Considerando V, apartado 10",
      "quote_en": "she was not investigated or administratively sanctioned for having made illegal appointments, but rather, instead and exclusively, for having issued orders in that regard to her subordinate staff, and for having omitted, despite knowing of such illegality or discrepancy with the internal regulations of the Bank for which she worked, to warn that such order led to the adoption of illegal or illegitimate appointment acts",
      "quote_es": "no se le investigó, ni sancionó administrativamente por haber efectuado nombramientos ilegales, como sí, en su lugar y exclusivamente, por haber girado órdenes en tal sentido a su personal subalterno, y haber omitido pese conocer de tal ilegalidad o desajuste con la normativa interna del Banco para el que laboraba, el advertir que tal orden conducía a la adopción de actos de nombramiento ilegales o ilegítimos"
    },
    {
      "context": "Considerando V, apartado 10",
      "quote_en": "without warning anything in advance in accordance with the Law, specifically in accordance with the provisions of Article 109 of the General Public Administration Law",
      "quote_es": "sin advertir nada al respecto previamente conforme la Ley, específicamente conforme lo dispuesto en el artículo 109 de la Ley General de la Administración Pública"
    }
  ],
  "cites": [],
  "cited_by": [],
  "references": {
    "internal": [],
    "external": []
  },
  "source_url": "https://nexuspj.poder-judicial.go.cr/document/ext-1-0034-358680",
  "tier": 2,
  "_editorial_citation_count": 0,
  "regulations_by_article": null,
  "amendments_by_article": null,
  "dictamen_by_article": null,
  "concordancias_by_article": null,
  "afectaciones_by_article": null,
  "resoluciones_by_article": null,
  "cited_by_votos": [],
  "cited_norms": [],
  "cited_norms_inverted": [
    {
      "doc_id": "norm-21629",
      "norm_num": "7428",
      "norm_name": "Ley Orgánica de la Contraloría General de la República",
      "tipo_norma": "Ley",
      "norm_fecha": "07/09/1994"
    },
    {
      "doc_id": "norm-49185",
      "norm_num": "8292",
      "norm_name": "Ley General de Control Interno",
      "tipo_norma": "Ley",
      "norm_fecha": "31/07/2002"
    },
    {
      "doc_id": "norm-53738",
      "norm_num": "8422",
      "norm_name": "Ley contra la Corrupción y el Enriquecimiento Ilícito en la Función Pública",
      "tipo_norma": "Ley",
      "norm_fecha": "06/10/2004"
    }
  ],
  "sentencias_relacionadas": [],
  "temas_y_subtemas": [],
  "cascade_only": false,
  "amendment_count": 0,
  "body_es_text": "\"V. [...] 10. [...] ya analizamos y resulta claro además, que a la aquí actora no se le investigó, ni sancionó administrativamente por haber efectuado nombramientos ilegales, como sí, en su lugar y exclusivamente, por haber girado órdenes en tal sentido a su personal subalterno, y haber omitido pese conocer de tal ilegalidad o desajuste con la normativa interna del Banco para el que laboraba, el advertir que tal orden conducía a la adopción de actos de nombramiento ilegales o ilegítimos, porque se trató de nombramientos que en este sentido gestionó en lo conducente en ausencia de concurso y porque en algunos casos, dichos nombramientos en relación con los que intervino gestionando órdenes o instrucciones, lo fueron respecto de personas que no reunían la totalidad de los requisitos jurídicamente exigidos para ello -lo que se concretó en efecto- sin advertir nada al respecto previamente conforme la Ley, específicamente conforme lo dispuesto en el artículo 109 de la Ley General de la Administración Pública -insistimos nuevamente- de admitirse que siguió órdenes de sus superiores, como ella lo afirmó al menos en sede administrativa.\"",
  "body_en_text": "\"V. [...] 10. [...] we have already analyzed and it is also clear that the plaintiff here was not investigated, nor administratively sanctioned, for having made illegal appointments, but rather, instead and exclusively, for having issued orders to that effect to her subordinate staff, and for having omitted, despite knowing of such illegality or misalignment with the internal regulations of the Bank for which she worked, to warn that such an order led to the adoption of illegal or illegitimate appointment acts, because these were appointments that, in this sense, she processed as appropriate in the absence of a competitive selection process (concurso) and because in some cases, those appointments in relation to which she intervened by processing orders or instructions were for persons who did not meet all of the legally required qualifications for the position —which indeed materialized— without previously advising anything in this regard in accordance with the Law, specifically in accordance with the provisions of Article 109 of the Ley General de la Administración Pública —we insist once again— even if it were admitted that she followed orders from her superiors, as she stated at least in the administrative proceeding (sede administrativa).\"\n\n[...] we have already analyzed and it is also clear that the plaintiff here was not investigated or sanctioned administratively for having made illegal appointments, but rather, instead and exclusively, for having issued orders to that effect to her subordinate staff, and for having omitted, despite knowing of such illegality or misalignment with the internal regulations of the Bank for which she worked, to warn that such an order led to the adoption of illegal or illegitimate appointment acts, because these were appointments that she managed in the relevant aspects in the absence of a competitive process and because in some cases, said appointments, in relation to which she intervened by managing orders or instructions, were of persons who did not meet all the legally required requirements for this – which indeed materialized – without warning of anything in this regard previously in accordance with the Law, specifically pursuant to the provisions of article 109 of the Ley General de la Administración Pública – we insist again – if it is admitted that she followed orders from her superiors, as she herself stated at least in the administrative proceedings.\""
}