Employment 2025

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Carlos Hernández Contreras, Hernández Contreras & Herrera

that is credited to a bank account registered at the time of the request for the allowance, and this reim - bursement is paid by and at the expense of SISALRIL. Thus, for example, if an employee is incapacitated for 15 days in a month, eventually, during that month he/she will not be paid for those 15 days of absence. However, in 45 to 60 days, which is the average time that SISALRIL is currently taking to approve the sub - sidy, the employer will have to pay the employee the amount fixed by SISALRIL and then wait for the reim - bursement from SISALRIL. If such payment instruction has not been received from SISALRIL, the employer is not obliged to pay the agreed salary. 2. Restrictive Covenants 2.1 Non-Competes In practice, so-called post-employment non-compe - tition agreements abound, whereby: • the employee undertakes not to compete with his/ her former employer after the termination of the contract of employment; • he/she undertakes to maintain the same confiden - tiality that he/she maintained during the contract of employment, but also after the termination of the contract; and • he/she undertakes not to work in companies that compete with his/her former employer. These agreements even go as far as to prohibit the employee from doing business on his/her own account in his/her former employer’s area of business. It could be argued that such agreements are contrary to Fundamental Principle II of the Labor and Employ - ment Code, according to which “everyone is free to engage in any profession and trade, industry or com - merce permitted by law. No one may prevent others from working or force them to work against their will”, contrary to Article 47.10 of the Labor and Employment Code, which states that “it is forbidden for employ - ers... to perform any act that restricts the rights that the worker has under the law,” which violates the right

to work and the freedom to work, protected by Article 62 of the Constitution. The downside of all this is that these post-contract-of- employment clauses are already universally accepted in the countries that set the standard in international law in these times of globalisation. Indeed, these agreements were initially admitted by US case law, and subsequently, practically all Western European countries have also admitted them, albeit subject to conditions that have been outlined both by US case law and European case law, and these are the conditions. • That the work restriction be limited in time: one or two years, for example. • That the restriction has a geographic limit. For example, in the Dominican Republic only; or, for example, in the hotels of the Eastern region, or that a sector or industry be limited, let us say, the pharmaceutical sector. • That the former employer pay a severance pay - ment to the employee who will be temporarily pre - vented from employment, and such payment may be a single sum at the time of termination of the contract of employment, which is in addition to the employment benefits, or else a sum paid periodi - cally for as long as the work restriction lasts. • The restriction is justified by business necessity or potential harm. For example, the possibility of transferring knowledge to competitors. In addition to these jurisprudential precedents admit - ted in other countries, Dominican Republic legislation allows the restriction to work post contract of employ - ment, in very special cases, and always subject to a compensatory indemnity. These are the cases of the members of the Board of Directors of the Dominican Telecommunications Insti - tute (INDOTEL), who for a period may not be employed in companies of the telecommunications sector. The same applies to the members of the Monetary Board. In such cases, the applicable regulations provide for the payment of benefits to compensate for this restric - tion on freedom of work.

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