taking over vacation into the next year?

quaqualita · #1 01-13-2003, 05:47 PM

hi,
as far as I know, an employee has the right for 14 vacation days, after he worked for one year. My question is now, within what time does he has to take this vacation? Does he have to take the vacation within 12 months, after he worked for one year, or can he e.g. take only 10 days within that year and add the 4 "left over" days to the next years 14 days?
If the employee doesn't take a vaccation at all, is he loosing this days or can he "save them up" for later?
I checked the 'codigo de trabajo' but I couldn't find any article, which regulates within which time you have to take your vacation. Does anybody know and also can tell me if there is any written law about it?
Thanks in advance!

jbhermes · #2 01-13-2003, 06:28 PM

What company are you talking about?

Ken · #3 01-13-2003, 08:01 PM

quaqualita, if you are talking about something that is covered by the codigo de trabajo rather than the policies of the particular company you work for, hang tight until Fabio Guzman responds. He is the lawyer who answers legal questions in this section.

Fabio J. Guzman · #4 01-14-2003, 06:13 PM

A worker should take his full vacation every year. Article 186 of the Labor Code mandates that employers must announce within within the first 15 days in January the vacation period of every worker.

Hillbilly · #5 01-14-2003, 07:16 PM

So I don't think you can accumulate vacation days, like is sometimes done in the states...

HB

quaqualita · #6 01-15-2003, 09:45 AM

thanks to all of you for the fast reply.
So, when the worker "should" take his vacation within a year, this doesn't neccessarily mean, that he has to?
Here more details to my question: It's about our maid, who cleans the house, does the lundry, etc. She works about 25 hrs weekly since more than 6 years for us. And she is, what you could call a 'workaholic' , meaning that she does her work very good, many times makes more than she would have to do, sometimes stays longer to finish something, allthough she could do this easily the next day, even sometimes shows up to work on a holiday, allthough she knows, she doesn't have to.
Each year in January we speak about her vacation, each year she says, that she is planning to take vacation some time 'around summer', each year I say, ok, take your vacation whenever you want, just give me 2 weeks before notice, so I can prepare - and each year, she never took a vacation! I don't know why, she must have personal reasons (maybe there is a husband at home, she doesn't want to spend too much time with :-).
However, this year, she claims, that she didn't take a vacation in the last 6 years, and never got paid for it (?? like I know, when a worker is on vacation, he/ she doesn't get his normal salary for that time, but a vacation salary instead, which is the same amount like his salary, only that you pay it before his/her vacation - please correct me, if I'm wrong). Since she received all the year through her bi-monthly salary, I don't think, that I have to pay her something extra, when she doesn't take her vacation, or do I? And, could she by law now request all the vacation days of the past 6 years, so she would have the right to get a 12 week vacation this year?
Please, don't misunderstand me wrong. We are very happy with her work, and we know, that it is very difficult to find here in this country such an employee, who works so good. We just want to know what rights the maid has and to make sure, that we pay her everything correctly and give her all the vacation days she has the right for.
How much money and / or vacation days do we have to give her?
Any ideas?

quaqualita

JOHNNY HONDA · #7 01-15-2003, 02:53 PM

Vacation pay should be paid whether the vacations are taken or not,think of it this way you pay it every year then 6 years later the employee takes time off you dont have one big amount to pay as its been paid.
Even if you are not legaly obliged for the amount were talking here is it worth disenchanting an employee you say gives you more than you ask,good help is real hard to find.
Johnny

quaqualita · #8 01-15-2003, 05:52 PM

JOHNNY HONDA,
thanks for your reply. And yes, I agree good workers like this maid are really hard to find and for sure we will not disenchanting her and probably will give her anyway what she wants - and if it's just to keep her happy.
However, this 'case' made me curious. Living here since many years and allways being interested in DR laws, I thought I knew the local laws quite well. But now I'm really getting confused:
You mentioned that the worker should get the vacation money anyway, if he takes the vacation or not.
Well, she got per year fully 12 month's salary, since she didn't take vacation. If she would have gotten vacation, she would have gotten 11.5 month salary (let's just suppose now here, that 2 weeks vacation is 0.5 months - easier to calculate and explain what I mean :-)) plus the vacation money for the 0.5 month she would have taken vacation.
So at the end, she would have gotten the same amount of money per year, if she takes vacation (11.5 months salary + 0.5 months vacation), or without taking vacation (full 12 months salary). Isn't that correct? Or do I get this wrong?
quaqualita

Hillbilly · #9 01-15-2003, 09:48 PM

Look at it like this: Household help is not, up until now, under any of the labor laws. You pay what you want, you demand the services you want. You offer vacations. The only thing I haven't seen in this thread is the 13th salary for Christmas time. This is sort of a must thing to do.
If the employee has not taken a vacation, that is their problem. You havenot denied the person his/her right to a vacation. Maybe, she feels that you would not have her job waiting for her when she came back....Any, You would pay her./his normal salary, work or vacation, so if she has not taken a vacation you do not owe a dime.
You might, however, decide to give her a bonus for 6 years of good work...but you are not obliged to do it.
Remember, this person is not the brightest light on the tree or else she would not be in this position, so talk slowly and ask her why she has not taken a vacation. Ask if she is afraid that her job won't be ther. Ask why??

You might be surprised at the answers you get...

HB

Fabio J. Guzman · #10 01-18-2003, 07:22 PM

Going back to the original question, there are two scenarios:

1) The employee is not given his/her 14 vacation days within the calendar year.
2) The employee does not take his/her 14 vacation days within the calendar year.

In the first hypothesis, the employer has the right to resign from her employment ("dimisión") and obtain her "liquidation" pay.

In the second hypothesis, he/she has a certain time to claim her vacation days, otherwise, she loses them. Statutes of limitations are extremely short under Dominican labor law. For example, an employee has only one month to claim unpaid overtime (Art. 701 of the Labor Code), two months to sue his employer in case he is dismissed (Art. 702) and three months for any other claim (Art. 703). Fortunately, these short statutes of limitations are only computed from the time the employee is no longer employed although in no case can a worker make a claim for something that took place a year or more before filing his/her claim (Art. 704).

Applying the statute to the particular case presented, we have that the employee can only claim the vacation days not taken within the last year.

Finally, although domestics do not have all the benefits conferred by the Labor Code on other workers, they do have the right to vacation time every year after completing the first year on the job (Art. 263).