How to hire remote employees in

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?
Book Demo

Country snapshot

CURRENCY
Dominican Peso (DOP)
EMPLOYER TAXES
16.39
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Spanish

What to know before you hire in 

Dominican Republic

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.

If you want to successfully hire in 

Dominican Republic

, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in 

Dominican Republic

. Onboarding talent takes days, not weeks or months. Both you, the company, and your talent have more flexibility. And in many cases, since you’re remote, the talent you’re hiring is better classified as a contractor, anyway. Of course, it’s not possible in every case, but it’s what we built Thera for.

Hire talent as employees

This is the long route. You can either establish a physical presence with an entity and register as an employer, or you can use an Employer-of-Record (EOR) solution. Odds are, you’ll find using an EOR to be the easier route. Still, using an EOR in 

Dominican Republic

 is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Why hire independent contractors in 

Dominican Republic

Hiring contractors is normally the easier, faster, more flexible choice—but don’t just take it from us. Below are the specific benefits and drawbacks to hiring contractors in 

Dominican Republic

.

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

Hiring contractors in 

Dominican Republic

 means you’re generally not on the hook for things like health insurance and paid time off. This makes hiring flexible for you, and it gives your talent more options.

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.

How can I pay people in 

Dominican Republic

?

If you’re hiring contractors in 

Dominican Republic

, you can pay them with Thera in a single click. You won’t need to worry about complicated wire transfers, fees, or currency conversions. We’ll take care of it all. Just make a click and your contractor will get paid in their currency of choice. This is a valuable bonus for talent in countries where the local currency is particularly weak—most people appreciate the ability to receive their payment in stronger currencies.

Hiring and paying your team in 

Dominican Republic

Hire and pay with Panther

Pay everyone with a single click
Get great currency conversion rates
Pay $0 in platform fees
Run payroll in seconds
Let Panther automatically create & store invoices
Let Panther automatically write locally-compliant contracts
Let Panther automatically file local tax documents

Hire and pay without Panther

Pay all your contractors individually
Do all currency conversions yourself
Shoulder the burden of platform fees
Spend hours each month making payments
Manually track & store invoices
Manually write & sign contracts
Manually file relevant tax documents

If you want to hire employees in 

Dominican Republic

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.

Taxes in 

Dominican Republic

Employer tax

Pension and disability

Health Insurance

Work Injury

Technical Education (INFOTEP)

Individual tax

Leave

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

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.

Employee requirements in 

Dominican Republic

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%. 

How to hire remote employees in

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?
Sign Up

Country snapshot

CURRENCY
Dominican Peso (DOP)
EMPLOYER TAXES
16.39
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Spanish

What to know before you hire in 

Dominican Republic

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.

If you want to successfully hire in 

Dominican Republic

, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in 

Dominican Republic

. Onboarding talent takes days, not weeks or months. Both you, the company, and your talent have more flexibility. And in many cases, since you’re remote, the talent you’re hiring is better classified as a contractor, anyway. Of course, it’s not possible in every case, but it’s what we built Panther for.

Hire talent as employees

This is the long route. You can either establish a physical presence with an entity and register as an employer, or you can use an Employer-of-Record (EOR) solution. Odds are, you’ll find using an EOR to be the easier route. Still, using an EOR in 

Dominican Republic

 is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Why hire independent contractors in 

Dominican Republic

Hiring contractors is normally the easier, faster, more flexible choice—but don’t just take it from us. Below are the specific benefits and drawbacks to hiring contractors in 

Dominican Republic

.

It’s the fastest way to hire globally

Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Panther’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 Panther, then $49 per month to hire your contractors with Panther. 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

Hiring contractors in 

Dominican Republic

 means you’re generally not on the hook for things like health insurance and paid time off. This makes hiring flexible for you, and it gives your talent more options.

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.

How can I pay people in 

Dominican Republic

?

If you’re hiring contractors in 

Dominican Republic

, you can pay them with Panther in a single click. You won’t need to worry about complicated wire transfers, fees, or currency conversions. We’ll take care of it all. Just make a click and your contractor will get paid in their currency of choice. This is a valuable bonus for talent in countries where the local currency is particularly weak—most people appreciate the ability to receive their payment in stronger currencies.

Hiring and paying your team in 

Dominican Republic

Hire and pay with Panther

Pay everyone with a single click
Get great currency conversion rates
Pay $0 in platform fees
Run payroll in seconds
Let Panther automatically create & store invoices
Let Panther automatically write locally-compliant contracts
Let Panther automatically file local tax documents

Hire and pay without Panther

Pay all your contractors individually
Do all currency conversions yourself
Shoulder the burden of platform fees
Spend hours each month making payments
Manually track & store invoices
Manually write & sign contracts
Manually file relevant tax documents

Let Panther save you from hiring headaches.

Sign up today for $0

If you want to hire employees in 

Dominican Republic

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.

Taxes in 

Dominican Republic

Employer tax

Pension and disability

Health Insurance

Work Injury

Technical Education (INFOTEP)

Individual tax

Leave

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

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.

Employee requirements in 

Dominican Republic

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%. 

Want to hire contractors, anywhere? Start with Panther today for $0.

Start for $0
No credit card required

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