Dominican Republic
Min. wage
(x13 payments)
DOP 29,988 /mo
About the minimum wage
Employer tax
~16.3%
Understand employer tax
Annual leave
14 days
Learn about annual leave
Notice period
28 days min
Termination and notice info
Updated
Sep 2026
The default and presumed contract under the Labor Code, for ongoing work with no fixed end date and full statutory protections (cesantía, preaviso).
Allowed only where the nature of the work is temporary (seasonal work, a specific project, or substituting an absent employee); otherwise deemed indefinite.
Standard workweek is 44 hours (max 8 hours/day, typically Monday-Saturday noon); overtime at +35% for hours 45-68 per week and +100% beyond 68 hours or on rest days/holidays.
The first 3 months operate as a trial period during which either party may terminate without notice or severance liability.
A mandatory 13th salary (regalía pascual) equal to 1/12 of ordinary salary earned in the year, paid by December 20, exempt from income tax and social security; no 14th salary.
Job titles not specifically regulated, but roles must be accurately described in the contract and registered with the Ministry of Labor (DGT forms); certain professions require Dominican licensing (exequátur).
~16.29%: AFP pension 7.10% (capped at 20x the minimum contribution salary), SFS health 7.09% (capped at 10x), labor-risk insurance ~1.10%-1.40% by risk class (capped at 4x), plus INFOTEP 1% of payroll.
Employees contribute 5.91% (AFP 2.87% + SFS 3.04%, subject to caps); income tax withheld separately at 15%-25% progressive rates, with annual income up to ~DOP 416,220 exempt.
In addition to statutory leave, employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:
Payroll social security in the Dominican Republic is administered through the Tesorería de la Seguridad Social (TSS) under Law 87-01, with contributions calculated on capped contribution salaries.
Employers fund the Seguro de Riesgos Laborales (SRL), the mandatory occupational accident and disease insurance managed through the TSS/IDOPPRIL, at approximately 1.10%-1.40% of capped salary depending on risk classification; it covers medical care, disability subsidies and survivor benefits, so no separate private workers' compensation policy is required.
Under the desahucio system, an employer may terminate without cause at any time but must pay preaviso (notice or pay in lieu: 7 days after 3-6 months, 14 days after 6-12 months, 28 days after 1 year) plus cesantía severance: 6 days' salary for 3-6 months of service, 13 days for 6-12 months, 21 days per year for 1-5 years, and 23 days per year after 5 years, payable within 10 days of termination. Cesantía is exempt from income tax.
The regalía pascual (Christmas salary) is a mandatory 13th salary equal to one-twelfth of the ordinary salary earned during the calendar year, payable no later than December 20; it is exempt from income tax and social security contributions and is due proportionally regardless of how or when the employment ends.
P.S. our team speaks multiple languages and we'd love to chat in your preferred language if requested.
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. RemoFirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees are paid on time. To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about, or anything else related to international employment, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.
