On the hearing of October 24, 2016, High Court of Cassation and Justice „The Complaints Committee for Civil Matters, settled the appeal filed by the Iasi Court of Appeal, Labor and Social Insurance Litigation Division, in order to issue a preliminary ruling on the resolution of a law issue, and pronounced Decision no. in case no. 2436/1/2016, establishing the following:

In interpreting and applying the provisions of art. 77 of the Labor Code, referring to the provisions of art. 278 par. (1) of the Labor Code and to the provisions of art. 1326 of the Civil Code, the individual dismissal decision issued according to the provisions of art. 76 of the Labor Code can be notified via electronic mail, this being a way of communication apt from a procedural point of view to trigger the flow of the term of judicial appeal of the decision, according to the provisions of art. 211 para. (1) lit. a of Law no. 62/2011 reported to the provisions of art. 216 of the same normative act, referring to the provisions of art. 184 par. (1) of the Civil Procedure Code, provided that the employee communicated these contact details to the employer and there is a common use of this form of communication between the parties.

The decision thus notified by e-mail, in electronically accessible PDF format, must comply only with the formal requirements imposed by the provisions of art. 76 of the Labor Code, and not those imposed by Law no. 455/2001, regarding the electronic form.

The ICCJ decision will become binding on all courts as of the date of its publication in the Official Gazette. Publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I will be made after the drafting of the recitals and the signing of the decision.

The legal provisions mentioned in the text applicable to the case:

– Art. 76 of the Labor Code ” The dismissal decision is notified to the employee in writing and must contain:

(a) the reasons for the dismissal;
(b) the length of the notice;
(c) the criteria for establishing the order of priorities, according to art. 69 par. (2) lit. d) only in the case of collective redundancies;
(d) the list of all the available jobs in the unit and the deadline the employees will choose to take up a vacant job, under the conditions of art. 64.

Art. 77 of the Labor Code – The dismissal decision shall take effect from the date of it being notified to the employee.

– Art. 278 par. (1) of the Labor Code The provisions of this Code are in line with the other provisions of the labor legislation and, to the extent that they are not incompatible with the specifications of the employment relationships provided by this Code, with the provisions of the civil law.

– Art. 1326 of the Civil Code – Unilateral acts subject to communication (1) The unilateral act is subject to communication when it constitutes, modifies or extinguishes a recipient’s right and whenever the information of the addressee is necessary according to the nature of the act.

(2) Unless otherwise provided by law, communication may be made in any suitable manner, in accordance with the circumstances.

(3) The unilateral act shall take effect from the moment the communication reaches the recipient, even if he or she has not become aware of it for reasons beyond his control.

Article. 211 para. (1) lit. a of Law no. 62/2011 „Applications may be cumulated by those whose rights have been violated as it follows: a) Unilateral measures to enforce, modify, suspend or terminate an individual labor contract, including commitments to pay sums of money, may be appealed within the 45 calendar days from the date the interested person took notice of the action;

– art. 216 of Law no. 62/2011 „The provisions of the present law on the procedure for solving individual labor conflicts are duly completed with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code.

Article. 184 par. (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure – The flow of the term. Extension of the term (1) The terms start to run from the date of the communication of the procedural documents, unless the law provides otherwise.

Article written by Alice Dobrinoiu – Defendant Lawyer specializing in Labor Law