Deputies discuss the Labor Code bill

The Chamber of Deputies held its first reading this Thursday on the bill amending the Dominican Republic's Labor Code , a bill that, along with the Penal Code , is one of the most important regulations pending approval during this legislative session.

Before being approved, the initiative was given urgent treatment and left on the table. However, a study committee will meet this Friday morning to analyze the proposal with the goal of making it law later on Saturday. If this fails, it will have to be reintroduced starting August 16, the start date of the second legislative term .

• The proposal was approved on second reading in the Senate on Tuesday, after being revised to incorporate the business sector 's points. Among the changes they requested was a cap on unemployment , but the Senate rejected it.

Despite being taken into account, the employers' sector insisted on disagreeing with the proposal, as it made known in a press release .

The senators spent nine months studying it, during which time they consulted with interested sectors and stakeholders. However, the deputies will try to avoid that step and vote for it .

Among the changes made by senators between sessions were a reduction in fines against employers, an increase in legally mandated overtime , the creation of a mediation judge for labor disputes, and the elimination of a final contribution for retired employees.

Furthermore, Article 88, on workplace harassment , states that: “The employer may terminate the employment contract by dismissing the employee if he or she engages in acts of workplace harassment against his or her colleagues, subordinates, or superiors consisting of abusive, repeated, and hostile conduct.”

Article 240 states that, during the breastfeeding period , the worker has the right, in the workplace, to three paid breaks during her workday of twenty minutes each, in order to breastfeed the baby.

• Among the new developments are the teleworking modality and the regulation of domestic employment.

The book, which will modify the 1992 Labor Code , was proposed by President Luis Abinader, to whose hands it will return for promulgation if it receives the favorable vote of the deputies this Friday or Saturday.

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