Medical leave protection: Dismissal ban applies when decision is issued during valid incapacity certificate

Art. 60 alin. (1) lit. a) din Codul muncii, Art. 517 alin. (4) din Codul de procedură civilă; Medical leave protection: Dismissal ban applies when decision is issued during valid incapacity certificate: 517(4) of the Civil Procedure Code, held that the prohibition on dismissal in Art. 60(1)(a) of the Labor Code refers to the moment the dismissal decision is issued, which cannot fall within a period when the employee is in temporary work incapacity established by a medical certificate. The case arose from divergent judicial interpretations of whether the statutory protection against dismissal during medical leave applies at the time the dismissal decision is rendered or at some other point in the disciplinary procedure. The Court set a uniform mandatory rule: the dismissal decision must not be issued while the employee is covered by a valid medical certificate confirming temporary incapacity, thereby resolving the interpretive conflict in favor of protecting the employee during that protected period.