DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Carlos Hernández Contreras, Hernández Contreras & Herrera
delivery must be previously submitted to the Labor Department, in order for it to determine whether it is due to the fact of pregnancy or is a consequence of childbirth, otherwise the dismissal is considered null and void. • During the first year of the child’s birth, the worker may have half a day each month, at her conveni - ence, to take the child to pediatric care. Causes for Suspension of the Contract of Employment Among the causes for suspension of the contract of employment that do not require the approval of the Ministry of Labor are the following. • Mutual consent of the parties. • The fact that the employee is fulfilling legal obliga - tions that temporarily prevent him/her from render - ing services to the employer. • Detention, arrest or imprisonment of the worker, resulting in the impossibility of rendering the agreed service. • The worker’s illness that makes him/her temporarily unable to perform his/her work. • Occupational accidents, when they only cause temporary disability. • Absences of the employee. • Marriage leave. • Leave of absence due to the death of a family member. • Parental leave. • The death of the employer, which causes the tem - porary closing of the company or establishment. • Maternity leave provided for in Article 236 of the Labor and Employment Code. • Half a day per month for pediatric care. • Lactation periods. • Half working days per week during the notice period. And among the causes of suspension that require authorisation from the Ministry of Labor are as follows. • Acts of God or force majeure, if they have as a necessary, immediate and direct consequence the temporary interruption of the work. • Lack or insufficiency of raw materials, if it is not attributable to the employer.
• Lack of funds for the normal continuation of work, if the employer fully justifies the impossibility of obtaining them. • Excess production in relation to the economic situ - ation of the company and market conditions. • Unaffordability of the company’s operation. • The strike and work stoppage qualified as legal, do not require a resolution from the Ministry of Labor. However, to be developed within the framework of the law, they require the Ministry of Labor to be informed and to participate, exhausting a series of steps provided for in the Labor and Employment Code. Illness of the Worker If the employee is affected by an illness that prevents him/her from offering the services to which he/she committed themselves, his/her contract of employ - ment is suspended, and this suspension releases the employer from paying the agreed salary. From that moment on, if the worker was duly affiliated to the social security system, he/she will be entitled to the so-called common illness subsidy. And if he/she is not affiliated to the social security, the employer must assume the coverage of the social benefits that would have corresponded if he/she had been affiliated, or simply must commit to the payment of the agreed wages even if he/she does not receive the service rendered, in addition to having to assist the worker by making up for the lack of affiliation to the social security. For the worker to receive the common illness sub - sidy, it is not enough that he/she be affiliated to the social security system. A series of formalities and pro - cedures must be carried out jointly by the affected worker and his/her employer, with the participation of the Superintendence of Health and Labor Risks (SISALRIL). Another relevant aspect is that during the suspension for illness, although the employer is released from paying the agreed salary, it happens that after carrying out all the procedures related to the common illness allowance, and after SISALRIL fixes the amount of the allowance, said employer is obliged to pay the allow - ance in question, and then expects a reimbursement
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