Top official rejects that enforcing Labor Act harms Dominican economy

Santo Domingo.- Immigration director José Ricardo Taveras on Monday discarded affirmations that compliance with the Migration Act and other laws that protect local workers would harm the Dominican economy.

The official responded to Housing Builders and Developers Association (ACOPROVI) president Fermin Acosta, who warned of the sector’s collapse if all undocumented Haitian construction workers are repatriated.

Acosta called impractical the enforcement of the Labor Code’s ceiling of 20% foreign labor, and cautions that it could hobble the economy.

"What we cannot do is continue to play along with the economic sectors that resist the formalization of their workforce, in violation of not only the Migration Act, but the Social Security Act and Labor Code," Taveras said, quoted by diariolibre.com.

He said the hiring of undocumented workers, the sidestepping of Social Security, as well as all costs associated with formalizing labor cannot continue, to "finally not pay them, and also benefit from the shadow of a rule which allows them to submit for tax purposes expenses payroll consisting of illegal aliens, among other advantages," Taveras said.