Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Dominican Republic (Ratification: 1964)

1. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report (which was received too late to be able to be examined last year). It notes that the draft of the revised Labour Code, which was to contain provisions prohibiting discrimination on the grounds set out in the Convention, has not yet been adopted, but that the authorities responsible for the revision plan to eliminate all discriminatory provisions from the Code which is now in force, in order to guarantee fully equality of opportunity and treatment for all workers in the private sector. The Committee hopes that it will be possible for the revision to be completed in the near future and that the Government will not fail to indicate the measures taken to give statutory effect to the national practice whereby, according to the Government, equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and vocational training is guaranteed to all residents in the country without any distinction as to race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, in accordance with Article 1, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention.

2. The Committee also hopes that it will be possible, as part of the revision of the Labour Code to amend section 210 of the Code which provides that a woman wishing to work in an enterprise, whatever its nature, must establish, by means of a medical certificate, her physical aptitude to perform the work involved. Since this provision does not concern work liable to endanger life or health (which is covered by section 217) and imposes this obligation only on women, the Committee requests the Government to examine the means of guaranteeing equal treatment of men and women in this respect, in accordance with the Convention, either by establishing that medical examinations for physical fitness for employment shall apply to all workers, irrespective of sex, or by limiting - after consultation with the employers' and workers' organisations - physical fitness examinations for women to jobs liable to endanger their health or their ability to bear children.

3. In its report, the Government states that all residents, Dominican nationals or foreigners, enjoy equal rights in respect of access to employment, the various occupations and occupational training, and it refers to certain training schools including the National Institute of Technical and Vocational Training. It adds that there are ample opportunities for admission to such establishments. The Committee takes note of this information and asks the Government to supply particulars of the measures taken to facilitate the access of women to the technical and vocational training provided by these establishments, and to provide statistics, by sex, of the attendance rate at these establishments and of the trades taught.

4. With regard to the public sector, the Government again states that the draft Bill on the civil service and employment in the administration, which is to govern all aspects of employment in this sector, must still go before the National Congress but that, in practice, there is no discrimination as regards appointments and promotions in the public administration. The Committee hopes that this Bill will be enacted in the near future and that it will contain provisions formally prohibiting discrimination in employment in this sector on all the grounds listed in the Convention. The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of any progress made in this respect and to provide statistics on the number of women employed in the public administration and in state enterprises (including the number of women holding higher level posts) and on the percentage of women as compared to men in the sector.