Minimum Wage

The minimum wage in the DR is a complicated mess. It is based on the type of work, the size of the employer, where the business is located, what market segment the employer serves and then as you noted , some are exempt any way.

I believe the last increase was several years ago, but I don't recall keep up on it so I stand corrected if someone knows better.

Gregg

Businesses with a value of more than 4 million pesos the minimum wage went from 7,360 to 8,464. Businesses valued less than 4 million pesos went from 5,060 to 5,819. Private watchmen went from 6,210 to 7,141. Service employees (restaurant/hotel) went from 4,485 to 5,157. And workers in the campo went from a daily wage of 150 pesos to 175.

The wage increase doesn't affect anyone who is being paid more than the minimums.

The wage increase is supposed to be paid retroactive to June first.

A word of caution, employees who do not get their increase can go to the secretary of trabajos and file a complaint. You don't want to get involved in that over such little amounts.

Maids in most households of the DR do not accrue severance payments and other benefits of company employees. Nevertheless, I am aware it is a common practice for households in Casa de Campo to consider their domestic employees as company employees, so you should keep this in mind. To do differently, I would visit the Ministry of Labor office in La Romana to establish in writing the terms of your employee to avoid surprises later.

windeguy said:

Logic would dictate that someone already making the current minimum wage or better would not be entitled to another increase at this time.

I could be wrong. Perhaps minimum wage means something different in this country than it does elsewhere?

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Thats the whole problem, LOGIC does not prevail when it comes to labour laws in this country.

Campesina said:

Service employees (restaurant/hotel) went from 4,485 to 5,157.

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I'm confused with this, since tourism sector which includes restaurant/hotel employees already had a larger salary than this quote. It was RD$5,575 according to RESOLUCI?N NUM. 2/2007 of the Secretaria de Trabajo.

DR1s news briefing on the 15% increase does not affect the tourism sector.

Am I reading something wrong?

Resolution 1/2009 DOES NOT cover wages for the tourist sector. Usually there is delay of a few months from the time the general minimum wage is raised to the time the minimum wage for the tourist sector is raised. There's also the possibility that the latter will not be raised.

Those wages that are already above minimum wage do not have to be increased, so long as they meet at least the level of the new minimum wage.

That being said, in practice most if not all employees expect a raise when the minimum wage goes up. I always applied the increase across the board.

Why? Because generally the minimum wage increase addresses the increased cost of living. Employees' spending power gradually erodes and, after a while, the government mandates a raise in the minimum to off-set that diminished buying power.

Do you have to increase wages across the board? No. Do you need to keep your staff happy? Also no. But it sure makes your business run smoother.

SosuaJose,

I don't disagree with you, but at a time when business are suffering (mine is) increasing 15% some wages which are already ways above the minimum wage may mean that employees will be left without a job quite soon.

Expat-in-Cabarete said:

SosuaJose,

I don't disagree with you, but at a time when business are suffering (mine is) increasing 15% some wages which are already ways above the minimum wage may mean that employees will be left without a job quite soon.

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My wife has a simular dilemma. She can give her employees a 15% raise but if she gives her clients a 15% hike in fees she'll lose quite a few because many of them are already stretched to the max.

Hang in there...

Expat and Bob,

I'm not judging, merely pointing out that there is a tradeoff involved, one that business owners should be aware of and take into account when deciding on a wage increase policy.

My feeling, by the way, is that things are going to get better over the next year. For those who have businesses: Hang in there, treat your existing client base extremely well, try to hold on to your best employees, and think about using the down time to re-brand or re-invent your business.

When things are going well, it's easy to justify the status quo, but eventually one tends to get complacent. Now that things are slow, there's both time and incentive for most business owners to take a hard look at their business and their way of doing business.

Got a restaurant? Look into some new recipes, retheme your menu, bring in some semi-celebrity cooks (read: DR1 members who might not only have a cool recipe, but would raise the profile of your business for a weekend). Think about new ways to source and retain clients. in short, shake things up a bit.

General ideas, not just for restaurants: How's your website look? When was the last time you took a course (online or otherwise ) in anything? Been reading up on your field? Joined any community groups, online or otherwise, with people who share your area of expertise? When was the last time you learned something new about what you do? When was the last time you even did something different in your business?

Sorry about the long post, have been helping out a few friends with their businesses and am boiling over

Depends on the value of the condo.

The new resolution (1/2009) does not affect the wages of workers in hotels and restaurants. It says so in article 7