Short answer. Generally, no. Labor Code Article 282 lists just causes for dismissal, and each one turns on the employee's own wrongdoing — willful disobedience, habitual neglect, fraud, or a crime against the employer. Making an honest mistake while actually following your supervisor's instructions does not fit any of those descriptions on its own.

What the law says

An employer may terminate an employment for any of the following causes: Serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the employee of the lawful orders of his employer or representative in connection with his work; Gross and habitual neglect by the employee of his duties; Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in him by his employer or duly authorized representative; Commission of a crime or offense by the employee against the person of his employer or any immediate member of his family or his duly authorized representatives; and Other causes analogous to the foregoing.

Labor Code, Article 282 — Just Causes For Dismissal. Read the full provision →

What the five just causes actually require

Article 282 lists the grounds an employer may terminate on: serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the employee of the lawful orders of his employer or representative in connection with his work; gross and habitual neglect by the employee of his duties; fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in him by his employer or duly authorized representative; commission of a crime or offense by the employee against the person of his employer or any immediate member of his family or his duly authorized representatives; and other causes analogous to the foregoing. Every one of these describes something the employee did wrong — disobeying, neglecting, deceiving, or attacking — not an honest error made while doing what you were told.

Why following an order cuts against, not toward, dismissal

The first cause is willful disobedience of lawful orders. If you actually followed your supervisor's instruction, that is the opposite of disobedience, willful or otherwise. A mistake that results from carrying out what a supervisor told you to do is not, on the plain wording of this article, serious misconduct either, since misconduct describes improper conduct by you, not an error traceable to someone else's faulty direction that you complied with.

Why the other causes are also a poor fit

Gross and habitual neglect requires more than a single incident — it describes a repeated pattern of carelessness, not one mistake made while following instructions. Fraud or willful breach of trust requires deceit or a deliberate betrayal of confidence, not an honest error. None of the remaining causes — a crime against the employer, or something genuinely analogous to these — naturally describes a mistake that flowed from doing what a supervisor directed.

What still matters for your specific situation

This article does not settle every possible variation on its own — whether "other causes analogous to the foregoing" could ever stretch to cover a particular set of facts is not something the bare text answers, and it depends on exactly what happened. Keep the instruction itself, in writing if possible, along with anything showing you followed it as given. If you are facing dismissal over this, bring that record to a lawyer promptly.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.