Labor says 80-20 workforce Law will be enforced

Santo Domingo.- Deputy Labor minister Washington Gonzalez, said Sun. that employers have no excuse to abide by the Labor Code which stipulates that 80% of a company ‘s workforce must be Dominican and warned that violators will be taken to court.

The official said all actions have been taken to regularize the workforce for which Labor won’t be flexible when enforcing the Labor Law. “The Law does not admit flexibility.”

“Now the whole issue of compliance, there is no excuse,” the official said. “There is no justification for hiring foreign labor beyond what the regulations establish.”

He said a foreigner must follow procedure to regularize their immigration status and get a job. “Since the foreign labor force concentrates on construction and agriculture, we carried out an awareness operation with employees and employers on the obligation to comply with the provisions of the Labor Code.”

González warned that Labor inspectors are verifying compliance by companies and failure to do so will lead to court action, “because this is a very serious violation of the law.

“The penalty for those who fail to comply is from 6 to 12 minimum salaries and if a Dominican worker feels displaced he can become a plaintiff against this.”