The Supreme Court has ruled that banks cannot deduct from payroll deposits any cardholder debt of their customers or past customers. The Supreme Court says this applies even if the cardholder signed off authorizing the deduction when accepting the card from the bank.
The Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) upheld the jurisprudential position that commercial banks may not deduct from the salary of workers outstanding debts they may have with financial intermediation entities. For the deduction to be made, the Supreme Court of Justice says that an agreement needs to have been established by the parties and express authorization given. If this does not occur, the unilateral discounting is regarded as being in violation of the Constitution and Convention 95 of the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The decision is contained in judgment No. SCJ-PS-22-0717, dated 16 March 2022, signed by magistrates Pilar Jiménez Ortiz, who presides over the First Chamber, Justiniano Montero Montero, Vanessa Acosta Peralta and Napoleón Ricardo Estévez Lavandier.
The judges established that, although the cardholder had authorized the deduction when signing the credit card contract, since it was a generic authorization, it could not affect an account destined for the payment of the person’s salary.
“It has been judged by this Supreme Court of Justice acting as a court of cassation criterion that is reaffirmed in this decision, that when there is no legal provision, collective agreement or an arbitration award, as required by the aforementioned Convention 95 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), on wage protection, which authorizes banking institutions to make discounts for non-payment of credit cards from payroll accounts corresponding to the payment of salary, the withholding of funds under such conditions constitutes a fault generating civil liability,” the judgment stated.
In line with the situation outlined, the First Chamber saw fit to dismiss the appeal according to civil judgment no. 1303-2018-SSEN-00803, issued by the Third Chamber of the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Court of Appeals of the National District, which confirmed the first degree decision ordering the return of RD$16,828 to the plaintiff, and sentenced the banking entity to pay the sum of RD$250,000.00, plus the payment of a monthly interest of 1%, from the notification of the judgment until its full execution.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
El Dia
Listin Diario
Hoy
31 May 2022