DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Carlos Hernández Contreras, Hernández Contreras & Herrera
excluded and except for those jobs and companies that are governed by special working hours, as per - mitted by the Labor Code or by the Ministry of Labor through express authorisation. This working day is governed by the following parameters. • It is limited to eight hours per day and 44 hours per week. However, the law allows these limits to be exceeded on condition that the employer pays overtime for more than 44 hours as follows: “for each hour or fraction of an hour worked in excess of the working day with an increase of not less than 35% of the normal hourly rate.” • Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the work - ing day “must be interrupted by an intermediate rest period, which may not be less than one hour after four consecutive hours of work and 1½ hours after five consecutive hours of work.” In practice, it is common for companies to interrupt the working day with a one-hour or 1½-hour lunch break, and in the industrial and free trade zones, in addition to the lunch break, two further breaks are added, one of 15 minutes in the middle of the morning and another of more than 15 minutes in the middle of the afternoon. • Unless the parties choose a day other than Satur - day, the weekly workday shall end at 12 noon on Saturday, followed by an uninterrupted weekly rest period of 36 hours, comprising part of the second half of Saturday and the entire Sunday. • If the parties agree that the weekly rest period shall begin on a day other than Saturday, the following shall apply. (a) In the case of an employee who works from Tuesday to Sunday and has Mondays off, end - ing their workday on Sunday at 12:00 a.m. and returning to work on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m., their weekly rest period would be 38 hours, con - sisting of 24 hours on Monday + 14 hours on Tuesday. (b) In the case of an employee who works from Wednesday to Monday and has Tuesdays off, ending their workday on Monday at 10:00 p.m. and returning to work on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., their weekly rest period would be 40 hours, consisting of two hours on Monday + 24 hours on Tuesday + 14 hours on Wednesday. (c) And let us assume the case of an employee
who works Monday through Saturday and has Sunday off which is the most typical case end - ing their workday on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. and returning to work on Monday at 8:00 p.m. Their weekly rest would be 38 hours, consisting of 6 hours on Saturday + 24 hours on Sunday + 8 hours on Monday. • In none of these cases is the increase provided for by law payable, as in all cases the 36 hours of weekly rest are exceeded. • Nor are they obliged to pay double for work on Sundays, as they have legitimately set another day of the week for weekly rest. The normal working day does not apply, unless oth - erwise agreed, to: • workers acting as representatives or agents of the employer; • workers in management or supervisory positions; • workers in small rural establishments operated by members of the same family or by a single person; • persons in positions of trust; • workers who perform intermittent work or work that requires their presence at the workplace; • workers employed in transport vehicles providing an intermittent service; • workers employed in transport vehicles providing a service between two or more municipalities and whose work is remunerated by a fixed salary, per trip, or by another form of compensation; • farm workers; • maritime transport workers; or • air transport flight crew. The law allows for the normal limits of eight hours per day and 44 hours per week to be exceeded in the following cases. • “In companies where work is continuous due to the nature of the work itself, staff must work in shifts of 8 hours. In these cases, the working day may be extended by 1 hour, but the weekly average may not exceed 50 hours in any case, with overtime paid for hours worked in excess of 44 hours per week.” • “By agreement between the employer and their workers, continuous working hours may be estab -
169 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook