Automatic termination of public service upon pension issuance despite requested pension payment suspension

The High Court of Cassation and Justice, sitting as the Full Bench for resolving matters of law, issued a binding preliminary ruling that admitted the reference from the Suceava Tribunal and definitively interpreted Article 517(2) of the Administrative Code (Gov. Ord. No. 57/2019). The dispute concerned the legal status of a public official who met pension eligibility requirements but chose to maintain their public employment upon request, specifically whether the issuance of a pension decision triggered the automatic termination of the employment relationship despite the official's concurrent request to suspend pension payments. The Court held that in such scenarios, the issuance of the pension decision deterministically and by right terminates the service relationship, clarifying that the statutory consequence of retirement supersedes the employee's wish to continue serving while deferring pension benefits. This ruling provides a definitive legal standard for administrative and labor disputes involving post-pension employment continuity under Romanian law.