Employee’s Rights Handbook

The “Employee’s Rights Handbook”

The first comprehensive, English language guide to Israeli payroll.
Whether  you are an employer or an employee, a new oleh or an English speaker who has trouble with the Hebrew terms, this publication is for you!

 

Employees:

Understand the terminology, layout and the Hebrew terms on your payslip

Know your rights

Understand the labor laws

What mandatory things need to be itemized on the payslip?

What are the things you need to know upon termination?

How many vacation days are you entitled to?

Is Purim a paid holiday?

What are the rights of a pregnant employee?

 

Employers:

Do your payslips comply with all the new regulations?

Do you issue employees “notification of terms of employment” as required?

Are employees given a fair hearing prior to termination?

Understand what obligatory payments exist in Israel

What is allowed to be deducted from an employee’s salary?

Is an employee who is on maternity leave allowed to work from home?

Must I pay travel expenses to all employees?

What can and cannot be deducted from an employer’s salary?

Are you aware of penalties for infringement on regulations and labor laws? (avoid this by knowing what needs to be done)

 

In this guide you will find:
* An overview of labor laws, regulations, expanded regulation orders, collective
agreements and statutes

* The make-up of the Israeli payslip

* Social Security

* Health Insurance
* Income tax

* Holiday pay, sick day payment, vacation, overtime payment, bereavement leave,
maternity leave

* Minimum wage

* Youth employment
* Advance notice

  • Tips             And much more!

 

A must for employers and employees alike. Get your copy today! This 107 page publication in hard-copy is not available in stores OR Anywhere else, get your copy today !

Price: 100 sh

For orders please go to: Order Here and fill out your details. You will receive an E-invoice for payment after which your book will be mailed to you. Self pickup is available in Jerusalem: Please state if you are interested in this option.Employee's Rights Handbook

Announcing “Employee’s Rights Handbook” book launch and lectures

Book launch and lecture will be held:

In Jerusalem: on May 19th, 2015  19:00  at AACI Jerusalem, The Glassman family center Pierre Keonig st. corner of 2 Poalei Tzedek st., 4th floor (opposite Hadar mall)

In Tel-Aviv: on June 17th, 2015 16:00 at AACI Tel-Aviv, 94 A Allenby st.

 

The “Employee’s Rights Handbook”

The first comprehensive, English language guide to Israeli payroll.
Whether  you are an employer or an employee, a new oleh or an English speaker who has trouble with the Hebrew terms, this publication is for you!

 

Employees:

Understand the terminology, layout and Hebrew on your payslip

Know your rights

Understand the labor laws

What needs to be itemized on the payslip?

What are the things you need to know upon termination?

How many vacation days are you entitled to?

Is Purim a paid holiday?

What are the rights of a pregnant employee?

 

Employers:

Do your payslips comply with all the new regulations?

Do you issue employees “notification of terms of employment” as required?

Are employees given a fair hearing prior to termination?

Understand what obligatory payments exist in Israel

What is allowed to be deducted from an employee’s salary

Are you aware of penalties for infringement on regulations and labor laws? (avoid this by knowing what needs to be done)

 

In this guide you will find:
* An overview of labor laws, regulations, expanded regulation orders, collective
agreements and statutes

* The make-up of the Israeli payslip

* Social Security

* Health Insurance
* Income tax

* Holiday pay, sick day payment, vacation, overtime payment, bereavement leave,
maternity leave

* Minimum wage

* Youth employment
* Advance notice                       And much more!

 

A must for employers and employees alike. Get your copy today! This 107 page publication in hard-copy is not available in stores, on-line orders:

 

http://www.israpay.com/announcing-the-release-date-for-employees-rights-handbook/

Announcing the release date for Employee’s Rights Handbook !!!!

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:

<a href=”http://www.vcita.com/v/israpay/make_payment?pay_for=Employee’s%20Rights%20Handbook&amount=100″ target=”blank”>pay</a>

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

Israpay
P.O. Box 44429
Jerusalem 9144302

 

 

 

 

Severance Pay – a minor detail you should be aware of

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.

 

Employer who single-sidedly reduced employee’s salary was forced to pay severance pay

The employee worked for a gardening company. Upon recieving his last payslip, he discovered that his daily rate had been reduced substantially !

He contacted the employer, demanding that his daily rate be restored to what it was previously, as no-one notified him of any change and he also did not agree to any such change.

The employer refused on several request attempts by the employee, stating that it was a simple “computer mistake” but the bottom line is the same. As a result the employee resigned his position and sued the employer in labor court, demanding his daily rate be restored, as well as severance pay and social benefits from the full rate and not partial from the new, reduced rate, as the employer calculated.

The employer countered, in his response to the court, that the employee resigned his position and as such is not entitled to severance pay. In addition, the employer requested that the employee pay him for failure to give 30 days advance notice.

The court ruled that relevance of section 11a of the severance pay law, which enables an employee to resign his position and still be eligible for severance pay, is upon the employee.

Basically, the employee was able to prove that the employer single-sidedly reduced his wages, by submitting photocopies of his payslips to the court as evidence.

Reducing salary is considered a “worsening of work conditions” that an employee is not expected to continue working under.

The employer stated to the court that after amendment 24 to the “protection of salary” law in 2008, the employer was instructed by his bookkeepers and legal advisors to itemize all payments on the payslips, instead of the one line – “salary” which was used up until then. The employer “fixed” this by lowering the salary rate and adding other mandatory items seperately, such as travel expense and Havra’a. The court ruled that these other items should have been added in addition to the existing pay and not all inclusive, since the item listed was only salary.

The court awarded the employee full severance pay and the employer was instructed to pay the employee the remainder of his salary (restore the original rate) and the social benefits from the full amount, as well as back pay (from his start of employment) for travel and Havra’a.

It pays for employers to configure payslips properly, according to the law, and avoid such scenarios.

Employee’s rights on employer’s bankrupcy

The law protecting employee’s rights in bankruptcy or liquidation of a corporation.

The law for security of employee’s rights when an employer goes bankrupt or when a court verdict orders the liquidation of a corporation came into being in 1975, in order to protect employees whose rights have been compromised due to difficulties the employer has come into and as a result of these difficulties a bankruptcy or liquidation order has been issued by a court of law.
This law is defined specifically in Chapter 8 of the Social security law.

According to this law, a salaried employee whose employer has declared bankrupcy or the company he has worked for has been liquidated, is entitled to payment for salary and severance pay that the employer owes him, up to the ceiling of the stipend as determined by the law. The employee is also eligible  that Social security transfer monies owed to his pension or savings plan if the employer has not deposited the required amounts owed (all or some).

 

Who is eligible ?

  1.  Salaried employees that their employer has declared bankruptcy or salaried employees that a court has issued a liquidation order against their employer (provided the employer is a corporation)
  2.  Pension/ Gemel fund if the employer owes money to a fund that the employee is ensured with.
  3.  Member of a co-operative who has been a member of a Kibbutz or a collaborative Moshav for at least 7 years
  4. An employee’s next of kin if an employee passed away before the benefit owed him was paid, his next of kin are eligible to receive the debt for salary and severance pay.
  5. Foreign workers / Yehuda – Shomron workers are eligible provided they have legal and valid work permits and visa. Illegal aliens are not eligible.
Note: An update to this law states that in projects that occurred from Jan 1, 2004 employees with controlling interests in a company are not eligible.

 

Conditions of eligibility

The benefit will be paid to a salaried employee if the following conditions are met:

A) A District court has issued a bankruptcy order or liquidation order to a company, co-operative, collaborative or Non-profit organization.

B) A district court has appointed a Trustee or liquidator to above.

C) The details of the employee’s claim have been acknowledged by the trustee or liquidator of the company.

 

How is the benefit calculated ?

An employee whose employer has been issued a bankruptcy order or liquidation order is eligible to receive a benefit from Social security, which includes amounts of salary owed him, that haven’t been paid by the employer and also amounts of severance pay that have no coverage in a pension / Gemel fund.

The benefit will be paid up to a ceiling of 79,750 sh for court orders issued up until July 31, 2009 or 103,675 sh for orders issued from August 1, 2009 onwards.

The amount of the benefit will include linkage from the date the debt was incurred until the payment date by Social security.

 

Salary items that are taken into account

  1.  Salary: according to section 1 of the protection of salary law that hasn’t been paid by the employer to an employee until the date he ceased work.Itemized salary that will be taken into account include: Base salary, overtime hours, premiums, bonuses, commissions, and any additions that are paid due to effort, or  departmental or professional reasons.The salary to be taken into account will not be less than minimum wage owed the employee according to his percentage of position (full-time, part-time). A benefit that is calculated according to minimum wage will be calculated for a period of up to 12 months.
  2.  Buyout of accrued vacation day balance: payment for the number of accrued and unused vacation days up until the date he ceased work, as they appear on his last pay slip, up to the maximum number of days that can be accrued by law and subject to the Annual vacation law. 
  3. Havra’a (convalesence pay): the part that was not paid to the employer up until the date he ceased work and for the last two years.

  4. Clothing stipend:  the part that was not paid to the employer up until the date he ceased work and for the last year (relevant only in places of employment where this stipend is paid – usually public sector only)
  5. 13th salary: the part that was not paid to the employer up until the date he ceased work and for the last year (relevant only in places of employment where this stipend is paid – usually public sector only)
  6. Value of advance notice: employees whose employer did not pay them the value of advance notice will be eligible to receive as part of the benefit, according to the Advance notice for termination and resignation law (2001).
  7. Employer’s portion towards pension: employees whose employer did not open a pension plan for them as required by law are eligible to claim the employer’s portion of 6% of the base salary and for a period that will not exceed 12 months after employer-employee relations were severed.Note: Any other itemized items on the payslip can be included as well, as long as they fit the definition of salary. Items that will not be included in the calculation of the benefit (for example) refunded car or telephone expenses, etc.
How do I apply for the benefit

The claim for a benefit is to be sent to the court-appointed Trustee or liquidator only and not to Social Security on a form 5305/bl (original only) along with documents to back up the claim. The form is available online on Social Security’s website: www.btl.gov.il or at  Social Security’s Head office in Jerusalem –  branch office (located behind Binyanei Hauma – 13 weizman st. Tel 02-6463020).

The appointed trustee or liquidator has approved the claim he will send it to Social Security’s head office.

Applications for claims relating to pension /gemel funds are to be submitted to the trustee or liquidator by the fund.

 

Tips

  • Always keep a copy of all documents for your own records
  • Never submit original documents, make photocopies of payslips, contract, etc to attach to the claim.
  • Send the claim to the trustee /  liquidator via registered mail with proof of delivery or submit in person and get them to stamp your copy “received” with the date on it.
  • Social Security recommends filling out the claim form in detail and accurately in order to avoid unnecessary delay in processing your claim.

 

Source:  Social Security (Bituach Leumi)

 

 

severance pay when an employee records serious disciplinary offences

Severance pay when an employee records serious disciplinary offences

Submitted by Moshe on Wed, 28/04/2010 – 08:38

 

An employer may be exempt from paying out severance pay to a terminated employee, if the employee purposely acted in such a way as to cause his termination, by way of serious disceplinary offences. For example; An employee had been working for several years at his job and approached his employer, demanding to be fired,therefore making him eligible to receive severance pay, or so he thought. This based on the assumption that if he quit his job he would not be entitled to severance pay, where as if he were terminated the employer would need to pay severance pay.
The employer refused to fire the employee saying he was very happy with his work and he was due for a promotion, but if he so wished he could resign his position. The employee refused to resign, but started purposely doing acts that can only be described as “serious disciplinary offences”;showing up late, not completing tasks, or ignoring others, as well as frequent, unexcusable absences and basic indiferrence to his job, in hope of getting fired. The employer repremanded the employee both verbally and in writing and when this had no effect, summoned him to an internal hearing. As this also had no effect, the employer notified the employee of his decision to fire him.
The labor laws specifically state that in such cases the labor court can order a reduction or a complete cancellation of in severance pay !
This was the scenario in this case as the employer had no problem proving that the employee’s actions had been purposely done with the intent on causing the employer to fire him. Therefore it is the employee who acted towards ending the employer-employee relationship and is thus seen as resigning for all purposes and intents with regard to severance pay.

Q & A regarding part-time jobs

Q  How is Havra’a configured for an employee who is employed in a part-time position ?

Employees who are employed part-time are paid the Havra’a supplement pro-rated to the actual % of the position worked. If you worked 55 %, you would get 55 % of the Havra’a supplement.

Q  I work 80 % position and recently returned from Maternity leave. I asked my boss to allow me to work 1 hour less each day (nursing hour) as defined by law. My boss says this doesn’t apply to me as I don’t work full-time. Is he correct ?

A  Yes he is, section 7 of Women’s employment law allows women who returned from maternity leave the right to work 1 hour less each day, with no deduction in pay for 4 months, provided they work full-time. If you work 99% position you are not eligible.

My Job benefits include an annual payment of my car insurance, test and car license. I was told that if I work 75% position, I would only get 75% of these expenses. What is the logic behind this ? The expenses are still 100% ?

A  The logic is simple. This is a salary benefit and not a return of expenses. Although the expense remains the same for the employee, the employer’s participation is reduced according to the % of the position worked.

Q  I work at a 50% position. Many times we have pressure at work and I end up staying extra hours, but I am always paid 100% for these hours. Shouldn’t I be paid 125 % and 150% for overtime hours ?

A Actually, no. You need to fill up the hours you worked to 100% position. only then are you eligible for overtime hours.
The hours you worked that are in excess of your defined position are called extra hours or excess hours and they are paid at 100% rate. Overtime hours is a term specifically defined in labor laws as anything over full-time.

Q How are taxes configured for a part-time position ?

A Taxes are configured from the actual gross pay and the % of position is irrelevant.
However, if you work at more than one place of employment, you need to do a tax alignment (teum mas).

Q My boss wants me to go down to half-time position due to a slack in sales. Can he force me to do this ?

A Contract changes, especially in % of position, are acts that need consent of both sides (employer and employee). if an employee forces an employee to lower their % of position, this is a one-sided change of contract which enables an employee to resign their position while retaining rights to severance pay (provided the employee has worked 12 months).

Q I worked for 10 years full-time and now my boss wants me to go down to half-time. How will this effect my severance pay ?

A Ordnance 7 of the severance pay law specifically determines that severance pay shall be calculated according to the last full-time salary, pro-rated to the actual % of position worked for the whole period of employment. In other words,for the 10 years you worked full-time, you would be eligible for severance pay of ten full monthly salaries (1 for each year) and for the time you worked at half-time, you would be eligible for 1/2 a full monthly salary for each year worked.

How To Quit Your Israeli Job and Still Receive Severance Pay

This article was published exclusively at JobMob

Scared about your severance rights?

The employed-job sector has gone through many revolutionary changes in recent years that are characterized mainly by a huge turnover of positions. The days when an employee was secure and stable in his position for life – that were a major factor in accepting a position – are no longer. Employees aren’t afraid anymore to change jobs and if someone stays at a position for 3-4 years it is considered a long-term position. Due to high employee mobilization, many employees would like to resign in order to pursue other job opportunities but refrain from doing so because they know they will only get severance pay if they are terminated by their employer. Continue reading “How To Quit Your Israeli Job and Still Receive Severance Pay”