Resignation or not???????????

It takes 3 legitimate complaints against an employee to legally dismiss him without liquidacion.
Each day that he does not show up could constitute a valid reason for a legitimate complaint.
You have to deposit the complaint with the Secretaria de Trabajo.
Your own papers will have to be in order, of course, to do so.
If you have an accountant, they should be able to do it for you.

Forget the Secretaria de Trabajo and just make sure to have a person deliver a company issued letter (triple copy) to him, asking about his recent failure to show to work and lack of communication with you (the employer). Give him ample assurance that you're worried about his condition but biz being biz requires that you have his duties filled by somebody else. Ask him to let you know his stance on this and what's the route to follow. Even if he decides to quit the job (if not already done so) you'll be better served by paying his dully severance and all that the law requires from you as the employer. To this end you can do so via the Secretaria de Trabajo as noted (without the complaints). If you use the complaints to fire the guy via the SDT then you'll open yourself to open books and much scrutiny by the Secretaria (more than you'll want to ever have to).

The triple copy is your ace in the hole to fend off any demand from the guy in regards to pay he's not longer due since he failed to show up for work since his call. Make sure to include that piece of data in your letter addressed to him.

You must do this sooner than soon!

A non-show is not a complaint per se, so treating the absentee as a walk off is much desirable than not.

Have a co-worker deliver the letter to him...

The letter will provide proof to the Secretaria de Trabajo on the good faith of the employer (you) in view of the absence of the employee in case of any demand or litigation on his part against you.

Sorry!! Didn't pay attention to the called to take the day off and mistook it for called in sick!!!!

Disregard my experience with called in sick-never showed up example atop!!!

Thanks Rocky for bringing the mistake up!

Two consecutive days off (even if the employee calls in) is considered job abandonement, report his abandonement to the SET as soon as you can, and request a visit from an inspector.

When he/she comes back to work act like nothing happenned. The SET inspector may take a week or more to show up. When they do they will confirm the abandonment, intervew the employee in question and a few co-workers to try to get a consensus on the situation, and then assuming your story checks out, give you the green light to dismiss without severance pay. (you still have to pay Christmas bonus and Vacation pay for the year if you haven't already)

Financially it works out just the same as if the employee quits.

The emloyee may or may not show up with a medical certificate proving inability to work for the time that he/she was absent. If he does you no longer have grounds for dismissal but of course are not required to pay for the days missed either.

If you do not take these steps, even if the employee never comes back to work you are leaving yourself open for an "unjustified termination" lawsuit a month or so down the road when your employee runs out of spending money and decides to get one last paycheck from you, so you need to file the report no matter what you intend to do about your employee.

Get tough and stay tough or get screwed and stay screwed, your choice.

No matter how much of a relationship you think you may have with your employees they are trying to get as much money from you as possible and termination is their last chance to get paid so they are going to take full advantage of the opportunity, right or wrong.

Defend yourself by crossing all your i's and dotting all your t's or else pay the full severance and move on. Prolonging the agony doesn't help anybody.

If your employee doesnt want to be there he is going to get worse as time goes on and not better, and may begin to aggressively seek to get fired. If you have an opportunity to part ways with him cheaply you need to jump on it.

That's the way we do it, I have over 100 employees and have had relatively few problems.

Dominican labor law is very slanted in favor of the employee, but job abandonment is one area where you can get a clear upper hand.

Many times employees will feign sickness so they can evaluate a new job opening or business oppotunity without making a commitment to leave their current place of work.

You need to make a decision one way or the other within 15 days. If you decide to give him a pass on this round you will not likely be able to use it as a factor for dismissal in the future.

According to Arts. 88, 89 and 90 of the Dominican Labor Code an employer has the right to dismiss (without severance pay) an employee who does not show up for work for either two consecutive days or two days of the same month, without previously notifying the employer explaining the cause of his absence.

The employer's right to fire expires 15 days after the right can be enforced, which in this case the 15-day period starts running after the second day of the absence.

Calling in is not the same as showing up, or giving prior notice. Get together with an inspector from the labor board. The Labor Board does not really "decide" anything, but they will make a report that will be taken in to consideration if the employee decides to sue later, and can certainly advise you of your options.