Dominican Republic
On this page, we’ll teach you how you can hire remote talent in the Dominican Republic—without spending nearly $100k and 6+ months setting up your own entity. We’ll cover legal obligations, risks, and the easiest path to hiring great talent abroad. Shall we?
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Dominican Peso (DOP)
EMPLOYER TAXES
16.39
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Spanish
It’s the fastest way to hire globally
Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.
It’s a lot cheaper
It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s more flexible for you & your team
Can be less risky than hiring employees
Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.
Some people want to be employees
The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.
You might not have as much control over your talent
Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.
Hiring in the Dominican Republic can be as easy as a few minutes and a couple of clicks, and as difficult as thousands of dollars and weeks spent onboarding. Below, you’ll learn what you should know about your options.
Hire talent as contractors
Hire talent as employees
If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in the Dominican Republic than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in the Dominican Republic.
Employer tax
Pension and disability
Health Insurance
Work Injury
Technical Education (INFOTEP)
Paid Time Off (PTO)
PTO is calculated by the:
- 14 days, starting after one year of work. After 5 years, vacation days go up to 18.
Public Holidays
There are 13 public holidays.
Sick Days
No paid sick leave.
Maternity Leave
New mothers are entitled to paid leave of 14 weeks.
Paternity Leave
New fathers are entitled to paternity leave of 2 days.
Parental Leave
No legal requirement.
Other Leave
None.
Marriage Leave
Employees receive paid 5 days leave.
Bereavement Leave
Employees will receive a paid 3 days leave.
Termination Process
In the event of a termination of a local employee, the employee’s salary must be paid:
“For cause” termination requires evidence of wrongdoing and 48 hours’ notice. If an employer fails to provide evidence or the required notice, he will have to pay severance.
“At will” termination requires longer notice and severance payment.
Notice Period
The notice period in Dominican Republic is:
For at-will termination, notice depends on the employee’s seniority.
After three months, the employee receives 7 days’ notice; after six months, 14 days; after a year, 28 days’ notice.
Severance Pay
Severance pay is also determined by seniority.
3 – 6 months get 6 days’ salary
6 – 12 months get 13 days’ salary
1 – 5 years get 21 days per year
Over 5 years get 23 days per year
Probation Period
Probation period is not longer than 3 months.
Working Hours
A workweek is 44 hours based on 8 hours per day for 5.5 days.
Overtime
Hours worked beyond 8 per day are overtime and paid at +35%, even if the weekly total is still 44.
If the workweek exceeds 68 hours, the extra pay rate is +100%. Night hours are paid at +15%.
%5B1%5D.avif)
Run your global workforce on autopilot with Thera
Book a demo to get started.