diff --git a/pkg/controllers/raycluster_controller.go b/pkg/controllers/raycluster_controller.go
index 55bd34657..02c1a307d 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/raycluster_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/raycluster_controller.go
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ func (r *RayClusterReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request)
 		}
 	}
 
-	if cluster.Status.State != "suspended" && isRayDashboardOAuthEnabled(r.Config) && r.IsOpenShift {
+	if !isRayClusterSuspended(cluster) && isRayDashboardOAuthEnabled(r.Config) && r.IsOpenShift {
 		logger.Info("Creating OAuth Objects")
 		_, err := r.routeClient.Routes(cluster.Namespace).Apply(ctx, desiredClusterRoute(cluster), metav1.ApplyOptions{FieldManager: controllerName, Force: true})
 		if err != nil {
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ func (r *RayClusterReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request)
 			return ctrl.Result{RequeueAfter: requeueTime}, err
 		}
 
-	} else if cluster.Status.State != "suspended" && !isRayDashboardOAuthEnabled(r.Config) && !r.IsOpenShift {
+	} else if !isRayClusterSuspended(cluster) && !isRayDashboardOAuthEnabled(r.Config) && !r.IsOpenShift {
 		logger.Info("We detected being on Vanilla Kubernetes!")
 		logger.Info("Creating Dashboard Ingress")
 		dashboardName := dashboardNameFromCluster(cluster)
@@ -312,6 +312,10 @@ func isMTLSEnabled(cfg *config.KubeRayConfiguration) bool {
 	return cfg == nil || ptr.Deref(cfg.MTLSEnabled, true)
 }
 
+func isRayClusterSuspended(cluster *rayv1.RayCluster) bool {
+	return cluster.Spec.Suspend != nil && ptr.Deref(cluster.Spec.Suspend, false)
+}
+
 func crbNameFromCluster(cluster *rayv1.RayCluster) string {
 	if shouldUseOldName(cluster) {
 		return cluster.Name + "-" + cluster.Namespace + "-auth"
diff --git a/pkg/controllers/raycluster_controller_test.go b/pkg/controllers/raycluster_controller_test.go
index db49adf98..c3769c5a9 100644
--- a/pkg/controllers/raycluster_controller_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controllers/raycluster_controller_test.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+	"github.com/project-codeflare/codeflare-common/support"
 	rayv1 "github.com/ray-project/kuberay/ray-operator/apis/ray/v1"
 
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ var _ = Describe("RayCluster controller", func() {
 						},
 						RayStartParams: map[string]string{},
 					},
+					Suspend: support.Ptr(false),
 				},
 			}
 			_, err = rayClient.RayV1().RayClusters(namespace.Name).Create(ctx, raycluster, metav1.CreateOptions{})
@@ -209,6 +211,7 @@ var _ = Describe("RayCluster controller", func() {
 						},
 						RayStartParams: map[string]string{},
 					},
+					Suspend: support.Ptr(false),
 				},
 			}
 			_, err := rayClient.RayV1().RayClusters(namespaceName).Create(ctx, rayclusterWithPullSecret, metav1.CreateOptions{})