The document provides background information on labor laws and wages in the Dominican Republic. It discusses the country's history and economy. Minimum wage in the Dominican Republic is much lower than in the United States, ranging from $127-228 per month compared to $290 per month in Texas. Labor laws require 44-hour work weeks but exempts agricultural workers, and enforcement of overtime pay and holiday pay is ineffective. The document also shares the experiences of the authors in the Dominican Republic and discusses cultural differences observed.

1. Labor Laws and the
Dominican Republic
Eduardo Calderon & Joel Muñoz

2. History of the Dominican
Republic
● Tainos, an indian tribe from the South American mainland, were
the first to settle in present day Dominican Republic. They were
here before Christopher Columbus.
● In 1492- Christopher Columbus discovered the island and named it
Hispaniola.
● in 1496- The city of La Nueva Isabela was founded on the southern
coast, which was the first permanent settlement in the new
world, and would eventually become the capital, Santo Domingo.
● Years later, African slaves were brought in to replace indigenous
tribes because they had all died out, mainly from disease.
● In 1697- Spain was forced to give the western third of the island
to France, which they named Haiti.
● In 1795- By this year, the French had taken over the whole island.

3. ● In 1801- The slaves revolted from France.
● In 1844- The Dominicans declared independence from France.
● In 1930- Rafael Trujillo was brought to power.
● In 1961- After a 30 year rule, Trujillo was assassinated.
● In 1962- Juan Bosch was elected, but was quickly removed
because he was accused of being pro-communist and a three-
man junta was formed.
● In 1965- Citizen opposed the junta and captured Santo
Domingo.
● In 1966- A truce was established and Joaquin Balaguer was
elected in June of that year.
● The Dominican Republic has remained a Democratic Republic
ever since.
History of the Dominican
Republic cont.

4. Background on the D.R.
● Location-
○ Eastern side of the island of Hispaniola in
the Caribbean Sea.
○ Shares the island with Haiti
● Capital-
○ Santo Domingo
● Climate-
○ Tropical Maritime
● Government-
○ Democratic Republic

5. ● Language-
○ Spanish (Dominican Spanish)
● Religion-
○ Mostly all Dominicans are Roman Catholic
■ About 95%
● Currency-
○ Dominican Peso
■ 1 U.S. Dollar= 42.45 Dominican Pesos
Background on the D.R. cont.

6. ● The economy is highly dependent on the
U.S, the destination for more than half
the exports and almost half of imports.
● Tourism is one of the fastest growing
economic activities
● Other industries in the D.R. include sugar
processing, ferronickel and gold mining,
textiles, cement, and tobacco.
Economy

7. Current Service Efforts
● A nursing program from the University of
Ohio is taking nursing students to give
health care needs in a third world
setting. This helps both the Dominican
people as well as the students because
the Dominicans get health care they
need and the students get clinical time,
while doing it in a different setting
which gives them more of challenge.

8. ● This past summer, a group of us also
went to the Dominican Republic for a
service learning trip. We worked with
the Brigada Verde girls at an
environmental school. We did many
activities like make benches, make steps
out of bamboo, cleared fields of invasive
species, and interacted with people from
the community.
Our Service Efforts

9. Our Service Learning
Experience

10. Culture Shock
● Eduardo
○ Adaptation- Sleeping with no A/C
○ Integration-Dancing with the Brigada Verde
girls

11. ● Joel
○ Adaptation- Washing the dishes
○ Adjustments- Helping a classmate talk to girls
that only spoke spanish
○ Integration- Learning how to dance a different
kind of music and teaching someone else one of
our styles of music
Culture Shock

12. 6 Barriers to Intercultural
Communication
Joel
● Anxiety- No one spoke english, getting lost
● Assuming Similarity instead of Difference- Speaking
spanish
● Ethnocentrism-Clearing the fields
● Stereotypes and Prejudice- Baseball players,
Language (talk fast)
● Non-Verbal Misinterpretations- Hand signs
● Language- Slang

13. 6 Barriers to Intercultural
Communication
Eduardo
● Anxiety-Getting attacked because we are tourists,
riding an airplane for the first time
● Assuming Similarity instead of Difference-
Machismo
● Ethnocentrism- “El Mudo”
● Stereotypes and Prejudice-Education and religion
● Non-Verbal Misinterpretation- Girls in the park
● Language- Different words

14. Subcultures in the D.R.
● Economic Status
○ People tend to stick to their own class,
whether it being rich people with other rich
people, or lower class people with other
lower class.
○ Passed down from one generation to the
other.

15. Labor Laws
● The law established a standard of 44
work hours per week, but agricultural
workers are exempt from that.
● By law, it is required for employers to
pay for annual holidays and premium pay
for overtime, but enforcement is often
ineffective.
● Workers often complained that
inspectors were not well trained and did
not respond to their complaints.

16. Wages and a Comparison to the
U.S.
Dominican Republic-
● Minimum wage for Dominicans can go from $5,000
pesos (about $127 U.S. dollars) to $9,000 pesos (about
$228 U.S. dollars) per MONTH for the standard 44
hours per week.
● The daily minimum wage for agricultural farmers is
$175 pesos ($4.43 U.S dollars) based on a 10 hour shift.
United States-
● Minimum wage in Texas is $7.25 per hour
● If the standard amount of hours are worked, which are
40, then the amount earned in the U.S. would be $290
U.S. dollars.

17. From our experiences in the Dominican
Republic, we saw that most of the people
there would work for and depend mostly
on tips that tourist would give them.
Our Experiences

18. So What?
So what about labor laws and wages in the
Dominican Republic?
● We are trying to increase awareness
about labor laws and wages in the
Dominican Republic.

19. Journal Entry
Joel
● In the D.R. I saw that the women in
families are all stay at home mothers
and do all the housekeeping and take
care of the children. Men are the
ones who stand up for their families
and go work hard to provide money
and food. They are also the ones who
always drive. Women in the D.R. do
not drive most of the time.

20. Journal Entry
Eduardo
● As soon as we entered the Dominican Republic I
noticed how different is from the United States. The
way of life is just so different here. I would see that
people’s houses were what we would consider
“shacks” or houses that are breaking down. They
seemed like they were satisfied with what they had
and just seemed to be happy.

21. Sources
● Dominican Republic. (2009). Background Notes on Countries of the
World: Dominican Republic, 1.
● Souers, C. (2009). Global perspectives. Improving health care in an
underserved setting. AORN Journal, 89(5), 899-906. doi:10.1016/j.aorn.
2009.04.011
● The Global Road Warrior. Austria: People. Retrieved September 25,
2013, from http://www.globalroadwarrior.com/ContentInfo.asp?
iso3ltr=DOM&nid=13.01&cid=42&next_nid=13.02&parent=Business
%20Culture
● The Global Road Warrior. Austria: People. Retrieved September 25,
2013, from http://www.globalroadwarrior.com/ContentInfo.asp?
iso3ltr=DOM&nid=76&cid=42&next_nid=77&parent=Human%20Rights
● Souers, C. (2009). Nursing Field Studies: Nursing Students and
Service Learning in a Third World Setting.AURCO Journal,
1529-39.

22. Thank you