absences

Sick leave during advance notice period

Moshe

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.

Breast-feeding hours

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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.

Everything you wanted to know about travel expenses to and from work

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reimbursement of travel expenses to and from work to salaried employees is an expanded regulation order. As such it is mandatory for all employers in Israel.

The only exceptions are:
1. employees whose terms of employment are under a collective work agreement that has favorable terms.
2. employees with physical or mental disabilities who are employed in protected places of employment that the State of Israel contributes towards their upkeep.
3. employees who live within walking distance from the place of work (less than 2 bus stops).
4. employees who receive a ride to and from work at their employer’s expense or on behalf of the employer. (employees who receive a ride one way are eligible for
half of the travel expenses below). This includes employees who have a company/leasing/rental car from their employer.

The maximum mandatory amount per day is 26.40 sh (from Jan 2014). This amount is updated periodically according to the changes in public transportation rates and it is incorporated into the expanded regulation order.

All employees who need transportation in order to get to work, are entitled via the expanded regulation order, to their employer’s participation for travel expenses by public transportation (bus and or train, not taxis). If an employee needs more than one bus to get to work, he is entitled to participation for that as well (under the condition that he needs at least 3 city bus stops to reach the place of work), up to the maximum mandatory amount per day.

Payment is via the payslip along with salary, in a separately itemized line on the payslip. In general, travel expenses are paid gross (not net) and are subject to income tax, social security and health tax (as salary is). If an employee’s contract or work agreement specifies that travel expense will be paid as a net payment, this means that the taxes are paid by the employer, which is legal but not very common.

The amounts are the fare for a single ride multiplied by the number of rides per day needed by the employee multiplied by the number of days worked (regardless of the number of hours worked). If there is a monthly bus card or a reduced rate bus card, the employer can pay the cheapest of the options. For absent days (no matter what the reason, even if they are paid absences, employees are not eligible for travel expense reimbursement).

 

 

 

 

 

Partial Vacation Days

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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.

 

Change in sick pay rates – April 2011

Moshe

Good news for employees who were forced to take time off work due to illness:

 

Update #4 – 2011 of the sick pay law, effective April 1, 2011 incurs a change in the rates paid:

1st day – no pay (no change)

2nd + 3rd days – 50% of regular pay (up from 37.5%)

4th day onwards – 100% of regular pay (up from 75%)

 

In addition, employees who work a 5 day week – 21 2/3 days will be considered a full month (entitling employee to 1.5 sick days credit). If an employee did not work a full month the  credit will be prorated accordingly. (This is a change from previously 25 days = a full month)

 

Notes:

  • The employee can request a doctor’s note for any illness.
  • The sick days need to be continuous, otherwise the count starts anew.
  • There is no buyout or redemption of unused sick days by law. This is accepted practice only in the public sector.
  • Sick day accrual, credit and debit as well as opening and closing balances for the pay period need to be itemized on the payslip.

 

 

 

Everything you wanted to know about sick pay but were afraid to ask

Moshe

Okay, even if you weren’t afraid to ask.

Sick Pay is specifically defined in the Israeli labor laws and as such is binding to all employers.
Employers can pay more than the law specifies, but may not decrease from these bare minimum requirements.
An employee is eligible to accumulate a credit of 1.5 days for each month worked, or a total of 18 days per year, but no more than 90 days per year.

The criteria for sick pay
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A doctor’s note which lists the employee’s name, I.D. number and specifies the exact dates the employee was sick, as well as the total number of days, the illness and must include the doctor’s name, address and medical license number.
The note should be from the employee’s Kupat cholim and the original needs to be submitted to the employer (usually HR dept or by attaching to monthly time-sheet)

Payment for sick leave
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1st day – nothing
2nd and 3rd days – 37.5% of pay
4th day and on – 75% of pay

Configuration of sick days
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The dates specified (or not) on the sick note can be detrimental in determining an employee’s right to consecutive sick pay or whether the counting of the sick days starts anew.
If someone was sick from Tuesday through Monday, a total of 7 days.
If the sick note list all 7 dates (from… to…) the employee would be entitled to payment as follows:
1st day – nothing
2nd + 3rd days – 37.5%
4th and 5th day – nothing (Friday + Shabbat)
6th and 7th days – 75%

But if the sick note only lists Tues – Thurs (3 days) and a separate note would include Sun and Mon, the payment would be as follows:
1st day – nothing
2nd and 3rd days – 37.5%
for the second sick note, the count of sick days is reset, since they aren’t consecutive days on the sick note.
for the 2nd note payment would be:
1st day – nothing
2nd day – 37.5%

In short, you need to request a sick note from your doctor to include the off days and list all dates that you were absent from work.

If you use a private doctor and not a Kupat cholim doctor, the employer has a right to request the employee to undergo a 2nd opinion diagnosis. If the employee refuses, this could result in a forfeit of sick leave pay.

Children’s illness
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An employee can utilize up to 8 days of his/her sick days annually for a illness of a child up to 16 years old. This is provided that the spouse is working and hasn’t taken leave of absence for the illness as well.
If the employee is a single parent they would be entitled to 12 days annually for their children’s illness as part of their sick leave.
In extreme cases, where a child is diagnosed with cancer or other terminal disease and the child is under 18 years old, the employee is eligible for up to 30 sick days for the child, or 60 days if the employee is a single parent.

Spouse’s or parent’s illness
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For a spouse’s illness and employee can utilize up to 6 days annually if the spouse is totally dependent on the employee in order to do daily activities (as defined in the social security laws), such as dressing, washing, eating and drinking, etc.
The same applies to an employee’s parents, with the added condition that they are 65 years old or more.

There are many employers who pay 100% for all sick days, provided a sick note from a doctor is submitted by the employee.
In the public sector, there are places of employment that pay an employee a “buyout” of all his accrued sick days that haven’t been used, but this is not mandatory and very unusual.