Scenario: Employer notifies employee of termination or employee notifies employer of resignation
Fact: During this period the employee is required to work, unless waived by the employer
Question: what happens when the employee is sick and procures a doctor’s note ?
Answer:
If an employee is sick during advance notice period and produces a doctor’s sick note to the employer, he is eligible for sick pay, according to the sick day law and contingent on his accumulated sick day balance.
The advance notice period is a work period for all intent and purposes, employer-employee relations still exist, for better and for worse.
This is true when the employer has given notice before termination and when an employee has given notice before resignation.
The date of termination or resignation and end of employer-employee relations remain the same as it originally was written in the advance notification and is not pushed back due to the sick days.
Finally, the long awaited Employee’s Rights Book is to be released in Hard copy. The release date is Sunday March 15, 2015
At present, this is the only format. There may be a PDF purchase option at a later date.
The book is 107 pages of vital information for employers, employees and anyone interested in Employee’s rights, labor laws and the makeup of payroll in Israel.
Announcing the first and only English language guide in simple easy to understand language !!!
The Book also contains a dictionary of common Hebrew payroll terms and their English translation, examples of payroll forms, useful contact information, tips and more.
Get your copy today, and know your rights !
price: 100 sh (including mailing). Optional self-pickup in Jerusalem (85 sh).
Payment via credit card or paypal, use this link:
or follow the schedule an appointment on the left hand side of the home page of this site.
If you encounter a scheduling error notice, send the following details:
(Name, mailing address, email address, phone/cell number. If you wish that the invoice be made out to a different name than the one you supplied, please state)
to moshe.israpay@gmail.com and An invoice will be emailed to you. When you open the invoice you will have the ability to pay.
Check payments option: send a check made payable to Moshe Egel-Tal along with the above info to
The “right to work sitting down” law (April 2007) specifies that anywhere that work can be done sitting down; the employer must supply employees with a place to sit. The law also mandates that employers must supply their employees with a place to sit during breaks. The law also specifies the type of seat the employer must provide;
The seat must:
a. Have a backrest for support.
b. It must be fit for use for the shape and size of the employee.
c. Must be suitable for the type of work being done by the employee
d. If the employee cannot rest his feet comfortably, the employer needs to supply a footrest, as well.
The employer is obligated to provide seating for employees who are on breaks, in sufficient amount for all and in good condition for use (to sit during breaks).
The law applies to actual employers as well as employers via manpower agencies by actual employers.
Violation of this law is subject to a penalty, awarded by the court, of up to 20,000 sh and in cases of severe violation up to 200,000 sh without a need to prove damages. Any suits regarding this law will be handled by the labor court, in a civil suit.
The right to sue an employer for violation of this law is given to the employee, a representing worker’s union that exists in the place of employment, or if such union doesn’t exist at the place of employment, a sectorial representing worker’s union or a worker’s union that the employee is a member of, or any entity that deals with employee’s rights, under the condition that the employee has given his consent.
The court may issue an order to the employer to correct the violation by a certain date.
Note: the above is not a translation of the law, nor is it a translation of the pamphlet published by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Employment’s work relations department, but rather an explanation in the author’s own words.
The pamphlet is available in Hebrew, in PDF format, on the Ministry’s website:
The work relations department can be reached as follows:
Q: What is Breast-feeding hours and whom is eligible ?
A: Breast-feeding hours is a special perk that is embedded in the Women’s employment law (1954). Any woman who gave birth is entitled to be absent from work for up to one hour, without deduction from her pay,for a period of up to 4 months from the end of maternity leave (currently 98 days from date she gave birth). This is regardless of whether she actually breast-feeds her baby or not. However, since a woman can take additional leave without pay immediately and in continuation of her maternity leave, she may lose this right as eligibility starts from the end of the maternity leave and does not include non-paid vacation.
In addition, there is no additional time allocated by the law if a woman had more than one baby in a birth, but the time of eligibility would start and end later, as she is entitled to a longer maternity leave. In this case she still gets 4 months.
Breast-feeding hours is a mandatory labor law in Israel in both public and private sectors.
The only criteria, aside from being within the 4 month period from the end of maternity leave is a full-time position.
If a woman works less than full time, she is not eligible at all.
The minimum wage in Israel (currently at 4,300 sh per month or 23.12 sh per hour) is being updated in three stages, according to an agreement signed by the General worker’s union (Histadrut klalit) and the Presidency of the Business Organizations in Israel. This will be voted into the book of labor laws by the knesset soon.
The changes are:
per month per hour
From 4/2015 – 4,650 sh 25 sh
From 8/2016 – 4,825 sh 25.94 sh
From 1/2017 – 5,000 sh 26.88 sh
From 4/2017 onwards – 52% of the average salary (but no less than 5,000 sh) to be updated quarterly (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct) of each year.
What happens if an employee takes a half day of paid vacation ?
In terms of payment, they would receive a full day’s pay. However, the issue isn’t as simple when debiting an employee’s vacation day balance. Apparently, as reflected by a recent labor court verdict, which determined that any day that an employee shows up at work is to be considered a work day. The same day cannot be counted twice !
The same would apply towards half days taken as sick days. In actuality, they are work days and travel expenses will need to be paid for them. The missing hours should be deducted as such and the payment should be itemized separately.
The employer and employee can agree on payment for half days and there are certain sectors that have explicit sections about this issue.
Everyone knows that when an employee is terminated and he has worked for at least one year for the employer, he is eligible for severance pay. Most employees also know that severance pay is one month’s pay (according to the last full salary) multiplied by his tenure. Or in layman’s terms, one month’s pay for each full year worked and prorated for any portions of a year.
The “minor” detail that everyone should be aware of is the question of what actually is the “last full salary” ?
Well, it really depends on how you are employed. The simple case is that of an employee who receives a monthly based salary, then the above would apply.
However, there are other types of salaries: Hourly based, Daily based, job based.
Many unique scenarios can also have an effect on what the “last month’s pay” actually is and thus effecting how severance pay is calculated.
For instance, an employee who worked full-time and changed to part time at some point (or vis-versa), an employee whose pay was reduced, an employee that had a temporary change in his last salary, an employee whose type of employment changed in essence, an employee whose position changed in essence or an employee who receives a base pay and changing commissions.
The Labor laws all specifically address these scenarios by dividing up the salary into several parts, before and after the change and a separate calculation is done for each part accordingly.
Those who receive changing salaries due to hourly or daily rates that change each month due to the number of hours/days worked or due to commissions – an average of the last 12 salaries is used as a basis for severance pay calculation.
Effective from April 2013’s payroll the minimum wages will be updated as follows:
Monthly ratedemployees
Apprentices
2,580.-
up to age 16
3,010.-
from age 16 to age 17
3,225.-
from age 17 to age 18
3,569.-
age 18 and up
4,300.-
Daily rated employees
5 day work-week
6 day work-week
Apprentices
119.08
103.20
up to age 16
138.92
120.40
from age 16 to age 17
148.85
129.-
from age 17 to age 18
164.72
142.76
age 18 and up
198.46
172.-
Hourly rated employees
Apprentices
14.91
up to age 16
17.40
from age 16 to age 17
18.64
from age 17 to age 18
20.63
age 18 and up
23.12
These rates are mandatory for all employees in Israel, regardless of sector (public and private), industry, vocation or tenure.
Employers who pay less than the above minimum wages risks penalty (stiff fines and even imprisonment) and prosecution in Labor court, by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, as a criminal felony for violation of Labor laws.
Memorial Day of Israel’s Fallen soldiers is Monday April 15th, 2013
According to the fallen soldiers law (1963), any employee who is one of the following:
* parent
* grandparent
* spouse
* child
* sibling
of a fallen soldier, is eligible to be absent from work on this day without liability of deduction from pay.
Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzmaut)
Israel’s 65 birthday is Tuesday April 16th, 2013
According to the Independence Day law (1959), This is a paid national holiday. This applies to all employers in Israel.
The day prior to Independence Day (Memorial Day or Erev Yom Ha’atzmaut) is a shortened work day, by law.
Employees who work an 8 hour workday, need work only 7 hours.
Employees who work a 9 hour workday, need work only 8 hours.
Places of employment that have a collective or personal agreement, or custom which is more favorable to the employee than the law, these would take precedence.
There is no deduction for missing hours for this day.
To be paid for Independence Day, you need to have at least 3 month’s tenure with your employer and you need to work the day before and the day after Independence day.
Employers that are not included in the list of places that need to operate on a holiday which is published by the Prime Minister’s Office are not allowed to force their employees to work on Independence Day as publicized by the Israeli Labor Court.
Employees who work for an employer who is included in the list, are entitled to 200% for all hours worked from 24:00 (midnight) on Memorial Day until 24:00 on Independence Day.
Payment for Independence Day needs to be itemized separately on the payslip.
As of Jan 1st, 2013 the amounts exempt from garnished wages have been updated as follows:
single – 2,122 sh
widower/divorced/single parent + 1 child – 3,432 sh
widower/divorced/single parent + 2 or more children – 4,281 sh
couple – 3,183 sh
couple + 1 child – 3,692 sh
couple + 2 or more children – 4,201 sh
Notes:
1) The above amounts do not apply to garnished wages for alimony.
2) Should the above amounts be more than 80% of the monthly salary (after deductions for income tax and social security and health tax) the amount exempt shall be reduced to 80% of the actual monthly salary.
source: protection of salary law, 1958 update 2013
