When the employer gives its employees a benefit that can be considered necessary for developing the employment relationship, it must be regarded as an element of said relationship and not as an economic or patrimonial advantage of the employee. So, it would not have a salary nature. Under the above, these benefits would not be subject to the guidelines established by our labor legislation regarding salary.

Several minimum wages are regularly adjusted according to the size and sector of the company. The current minimum wages have been in effect since July 2021, following Resolution No. 01/2021 of the National Salary Committee. This document establishes a media of 24.2% increase in the minimum wage in the private sector.

This 24.2% rise represents an increase of 3,389.74 Dominican pesos for the higher minimum wage (large companies). For the other two wages, there was an increase of 7,142.92 Dominican pesos and 2,170.78 Dominican pesos, respectively.

The ius variandi (power of direction) is a set of legal powers by which the employer determines the modalities of the labor provision. That is, the power to give orders on the mode, time, and place of the condition of the service.

In short, the power of direction can be defined as the broad and general power that the employer must establish the form of his organization and the operational, technical, and disciplinary guidelines on which it will work.

Although it is a general and broad power, the power of management has its limitations, since the orders that derive from this power must guarantee the moral, physical, and economic integrity of the employee. Which means that such orders do not harm the rights consecrated in labor laws in favor of the worker, much less violate their dignity and privacy.

While the employees are not transporting to the office, they are not entitled to, nor is it necessary, the payment of fuel allowance, vehicle maintenance, or lunch allowance since these benefits are to compensate them for the fact of traveling to the office.

This blog explains the steps needed to close a company operating in a Free Zone in the Dominican Republic.
There are two phases:
1. Process to obtain permission from the National Free Zones Council of the Dominican Republic (CNZFE) to close a Free Trade Company business.
2) Process to close the business.

The labor laws, and more precisely, article 147 of the Labor Code, establish a double limit according to which the regular working hours may not exceed eight hours a day or 44 hours a week. Even though the labor legislation refers to the eight hours a day and 44 hours a week as a starting point for the payment of overtime, the employer and the employee can agree on a shorter daily and weekly working time; for instance, six hours a day and 36 hours a week.

Outsourcing is the economic practice of transferring resources and specific business tasks to another, which provides specialized services. In the outsourcing process, a business function is done by a third-party service provider. The hiring company transfers part of its administrative and operational management to an outsourcing firm. In this way, the outsourcing firm can operate away from the hiring business's normal relation and its clients.

Due to this demand, customer service call centers have grown significantly in the Caribbean. This is especially the case in the Dominican Republic.

Article 147 of the Labor Code establishes that the employer and the worker cannot agree to a working shift exceeding 44 hours per week. If the employee works more than the normal working shift the employer has to pay overtime. But article 147 is not applicable unless otherwise agreed, to:

1. Workers who act as representatives or agents of the employer;

2. Workers who hold management or inspection positions.

A worker is compelled to work the overtime hours requested by his employer if the extension of the working hours is due to one of the emergencies stated in article 153 of the Labor Code. Those cases are:

• accidents that have occurred or are imminent;

• essential work that must be carried out on machinery or tools, and whose stoppage may cause serious damage;

• works whose interruption may alter raw material;

• fortuitous or force majeure cases.

In the Dominican Republic, the employer is allowed to enforce necessary changes to the employment agreement, as long as they do not imply an unreasonable exercise of this power, alter the essential conditions of the contract, or cause material or moral damage to the employee. That means that the change cannot negatively affect the employee by decreasing or eliminating any rights or benefits.

In Dominican Law exists the theory of abuse of rights, which consists in the execution of a damaging material or juridical act, which would otherwise be considered licit from an objective and formal point of view, but is considered illicit because the entitled with the right exerts it with the intention to harm a third party.