Basic Workers Rights - Quick List

As of April 2024, the monthly minimum wage is 5,880 a month for a 42 hour work week and 182 hour work month or 32.3 NIS per hour.

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.

Any work above and beyond eight or nine hours of daily work (including lunch break) is usually considered Sha’ot Nosafot and needs to be paid at the overtime rate.

By law you cannot be required to work more than 12 hours a day or more than 16 hours of overtime a week. In addition, if you worked at least two hours past 22:00 or 2 hours before 06:00, your overtime pay starts after seven hours of work.*

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.

If you work a five day work week, you are entitled to a minimum of twelve days of vacation per year for the first four years at a company, above and beyond religious or legal holidays. The minimum increases incrementally after that. You can always negotiate for more.

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.

Employees receive at least 18 sick days per year. Currently by law, you don’t have to be paid for the first day. Days two and three are paid at 50% and days four and onward are paid in full.

Some employers pay sick leave from day one and it is definitely something worth negotiating for. It is important to note that often employers will require a note from a doctor confirming your illness. This is called an Ishur Machala – אישור מחלה – doctor’s authorization.

Children’s sick leave – Time off for caring for your sick child is counted based on the number of days of your child’s illness and not according to the days the parent takes off. This means that if your spouse stayed home on day one, and you stayed home on day two, you are entitled to 50% payment for that day.

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.

Knesset Election Day is a legal holiday in Israel. Provided that you have been employed for at least two weeks and would have been scheduled to work that day, it is a paid day off. Otherwise it is an unpaid vacation day.

In addition if you do work on that day, you may be paid at 200% of your daily salary or be paid at your regular wage with an alternative day off.

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.

In Israel’s early days, all employees received a few days per year of Rest and Relaxation at a state sponsored resort for vacation. Today the resorts no longer exist, but the budget was converted into payments given to employees annually. It is calculated in ‘days’ and currently comes out to 418 NIS per day per employee. This is purely financial and does not include actual vacation days.

Most Israeli employees see it in their pay slip as a lump sum, sometime during the summer months. After a year with your employer, you should get five days. After three years, you get six and after four years, it goes up to seven days.

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.

Israeli law mandates employee and employer contributions to your private pension plan, every month and every paycheck. Check your pension account occasionally to make sure your employer is depositing their portion.

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.

• If you are fired, your employer must first summon you to a Shimua – שימוע – Hearing, where you can present your case why you believe you should stay. You must be given advance notice to prepare for the Shimua, you may bring someone with you, and you may record the hearing.
• If you have been fired, or if you decide to quit, the initiating party must give notice when ending the employee/employer relationship. If you’ve been there less than a year, it’s a matter of days, but if you’ve been there over a year, you will continue to be employed for a month after either side gives notice. Some employers may let you leave earlier and pay you the full month salary.
• Employers usually add your future severance pay to your pension account on a monthly basis. This has become a significant component of retirement savings in Israel. While you may withdraw this money when you leave a job, if you leave it in the account it can grow and earn interest.
• An important benefit that is not required by law is called Seif 14 – סעיף 14 – Section 14, which enables a worker to resign and receive all their severance pay, which otherwise they would only receive if the employer agrees to give it to them, as they are only required to give it if they fire you.
• When you leave your job, your employer must pay you for any unused vacation days and Havra’a that you have not collected. Unused sick days cannot be redeemed.

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.

• Pregnant women receive an extra 40 hours of paid sick time for medical appointments. Women undergoing fertility treatments are entitled to the same 40 hours as well. Your spouse can use their own sick time to accompany you to appointments. It is illegal for employers to fire women who are pregnant or undergoing fertility treatment unless they receive approval from a special government committee.
• Once you give birth, you are entitled to Chufshat Leida – חופשת לידה – Maternity leave and it is partially paid for as long as your Bituach Leumi account is current. The amount of leave you receive depends on how long you were employed in your job.
• Your employer must hold your position for you for up to 26 weeks depending on certain variables and may not fire you for two months after your return. You may also have a right to extend your Chufshat Leida up to 12 months without pay. Here too your employer must hold a position for you and cannot fire you for up to two months after your return.
• Please note that the Chufshat Leida payment is transferred as one lump sum.

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.

• Each Nekudat Zikuy you are entitled to adds an additional variable sum of money to your Tlush – תלוש – payslip each month.
• By virtue of being an employed resident of Israel, you are entitled to 2.25 tax credits if you are a man, or 2.75 if you are a woman.
• There are all sorts of additional tax credits for parents of young children, new Olim, recent university graduates, residents of certain peripheral regions, and more.
• Nekudot Zikuy are calculated according to the information you filled out in your 101 form when starting a job or at the beginning of each tax year, so make sure you fill it out accurately.

• An employee may, with the employer’s consent, take unpaid leave without terminating the employment relationship.
• The duration of the unpaid leave will be determined by the mutual agreement of the parties.
• The employee is entitled to return to work under the same conditions that were in place before the unpaid leave.
• The employer is obligated to pay Bituach Leumi payments during the first two months of the leave.
• In times of crisis (eg. pandemic, war), employers may place employees on Chalat.
• An employee who has permanent Israeli resident status or a temporary resident – not a citizen – and is placed on forced unpaid leave for at least 30 days may, in certain cases, be eligible for unemployment benefits

For more information you can review this Kol Zchut entry.