New rules for employing house help are being debated. The Ministry of Labor is taking the lead and proposes rules in a resolution draft that is up for discussion.
Nevertheless, legislators and experts say the resolution would not be valid because a law would have to be passed to supersede the rules for domestic help already contained in the Labor Code. The proposal is controversial because it requires that household meet several of the same requirements formal companies have for employing people.
Legislator Ivania Rivera (People’s Force-Puerto Plata) says that she submitted a bill two years ago for amending the rules for domestic help to increas domestic workers’ benefits. The bill did not advance in Congress. She offered to share her expertise on the subject.
Labor Minister Luis Miguel de Camps says his department envisions improving the working conditions for domestic help in phases. A first phase is the call for consultations, the second phase would be the instatement of a minimum wage, a third phase would be the incorporation of domestic help into social security plans.
De Camps says the Dominican Republic is a signatary of the International Labor Organization Convention 89 that has category of law and thus the Ministry of Labor can issue the local resolution.
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5 April 2022