In Costa Rica, Constitutional court exempts Adventist traffic officer from working on the Sabbath

June 25, 2015 | Cartago, Costa Rica | Edith Guix/IAD Staff

Traffic Police Officer Paul Rivera works in the Cartago Province of Costa Rica. Images courtesy of Paul Rivera/IAD

A Seventh-day Adventist traffic police officer recently won a court decision to keep his job and be exempt from working on Saturdays.

Paul Rivera Nuñez, who has been working as a traffic police officer in the Cartago Province in Costa Rica since 2013, was notified by his superiors in April that he had to work on Saturdays.

Rivera made a request to the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation to reaffirm his work schedule to honor his religious beliefs.

Weeks later, Rivera was notified by Cartago’s Transit Office supervisors that he would no longer be employed if he did not work on Saturdays after May 11.

“I had made up my mind that I would have to leave my employment because I wanted to respect the Lord’s day of rest,” said the 38-year-old Rivera. Rivera said he began to pray for God to intervene.

It was then that Rivera appealed to the Constitutional Court with the assistance of the church’s Religious Liberty office in the South Central Conference.

Attorney-at-Law Noe Campos Duarte, who also serves as the religious liberty director in the South Central region in Costa Rica, moved fast to bring about the religious rights in the country.

Campos, a Seventh-day Adventist himself, remembered his own experience when he was a student trying to be exempt from taking final exams on Saturdays. According to Campos, what began as a wrongful use of the internal policy of the employing organizations resulted in a violation of the constitution on behalf of the employer.

Soon after the case was submitted to the constitutional court, the judges took the Vote No. 8155-15 that would protect Paul from losing his job as a transit officer and allow him to exercise his religious beliefs in keeping the Sabbath rest.

“When I read the resolution, I was so excited to see how God had answered my prayers,” said Rivera. His recent experience has brought about greater opportunity to witness at his job, he said.

The vote not only benefits Rivera, but also any Seventh-day Adventist when it comes to religious liberty rights, said Campos.

Paul Rivera (second from left) poses with work colleagues.

“Seventh-day Adventists can now make mention of the vote to assert their rights,” added Campos.

During an interview after the ruling with Nacion.com last week, Transit Director Mario Calderon said that Rivera was the only case they had with those specific characteristics in the Transit Police Department.

“As police officers, we should be respectful of all creeds and religions,” Calderon said.

Rivera has not run into any problems with his employer since the judgment took place. He continues to work Sunday to Friday with Saturdays off.

He serves as a church elder, Adventist Youth director and Sabbath School director at the Paraiso Adventist Church in Cartago. Recently, Rivera gathered members from two Master Guide clubs in his district to help clean the Transit Office where he works from.