Automatic suspension of employment contract upon strike participation under social dialogue law

**Outcome:** The High Court of Cassation and Justice, sitting as the Panel for Adjudicating Recourse in the Interest of the Law, admitted the recourse filed by the Leadership Board of the Cluj Court of Appeal and issued a mandatory, unitary interpretation of the law. **Dispute:** The case concerned a conflict over the legal consequences of an employee’s participation in a strike, specifically whether the suspension of the individual employment contract or service relationship requires an additional explicit request from the employee or arises automatically as a result of adherence to the strike. **Legal Basis:** The Court established the uniform application of Article 160(1) of Law No. 367/2022 regarding social dialogue, ruling that the suspension of the employment contract or service relationship at the employee’s initiative is a direct legal effect of joining the strike for its duration, necessitating no supplementary manifestation of will by the employee, with the decision being obligatory under Article 517(4) of the Civil Procedure Code.