Severance Pay

[domgirl1]

Hi I have a question and hopefully someone can answer.

I have a friend who is working for a company here in DR. Approximately a month ago, they informed everyone that they were moving out of the country and gave my friend until June to stay working there because as of then noone was going to have a job since they were moving out of the country. They went on to tell him that he would get severance pay and that if he decided to leave at that moment he would get what was due to him at that time or he could stay until June and get what was due at that time.

It was said that if any employees were to find a job before June they would receive what was due to them for whatever time they had been employed.

My question is, if he found something else would he be considered as resigning, and may they cut down the amount he deserves. My friend has been asked to provide a resignation letter, should he do so?

Thanks for all your help in advance.

[Golo100]

I would request they provide me with their proposal saying everything they said in writing. If not, I would inmediately get in contact with the Labor Department and seek help.

I would not trust this people with a one day's pay. They are just buying time and using their employees to the limit and then dumping them to the sharks.

The same thing happened to employees of the old Asturias Supermarket, who were left with a bag full of promises and old groceries.....not a joke....the supermarket offered the employees to keep some of the products left over, which in most cases was very old merchandise like gallons of olive oil, in lieu of severance pay. The situation was solved with the involvement of the Labor Department, public outcry and employee protests.

If he resigns he will be at their mercy. Resignation in this case is a misnomer. Why would they want him to resign? Employers only ask for resignation when it is advantageous to the employer. Right now he is for all practical purposes fired, so why should he resign?

TW

TW

[funbiz99]

I am not sure of all the legallity. I was running a business in SD from nov-dec. In jan we moved the business to Santiago. The Dominican people which where the promoters told me to make all my employees sign a letter of resignation or fire them before we moved. They said that after a certain amount of time when I terminated them they would be entitled to money. The funny thing is they all signed and out of about 20 only 1 read it. I guess its possible they didn't know how to read.

[Fabio J. Guzman]

Liquidation pay is due in the following instances:

a) when an employer terminates a worker without cause ("desahucio").

b) when an employer terminates a worker for cause ("despido") and cannot prove in court that the cause alleged was justified.

c) when a worker resigns for cause ("dimisión") and proves the alleged cause vs. his employer in court.

What the employer in question is asking his employees to do is to resign without cause, in which case the employees have no right to liquidation pay.

The workers should never sign a resignation letter in this case. They should wait for their employer to terminate them. The employer would then have to pay their liquidation within 10 days.