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In light of heightened security tensions in recent days, a post by an employee on social media that goes beyond the bounds of legitimate opinion may disrupt routine daily conduct in the workplace. An employer must therefore act accordingly to remedy the situation. In an op-ed published in Globes, Netta Bromberg, the head of our Employment Department, explains how an employer should respond.

Netta Bromberg, our Head of Employment Department, was interviewed as part an article in Yedioth Ahronoth’s finance section. She explains which statements are permissible and which are forbidden for employees posting on social media platforms that belong to their workplaces.

Together with the Black Cat Family, an organization for the alumni of the IDF’s combat search and rescue extraction unit, we launched a five-session workshop to provide basic legal tools for entrepreneurs. As part of the sessions, Daniel Lorber lectured on founders’ agreements, Netta Bromberg lectured on the employee hiring process, and Harel Perlmutter lectured on how to build the right tax structure.

Yesterday, a labor court ruled for the first time that, under particular circumstances, employees who have not been vaccinated or do not present a negative coronavirus test may be denied entry to the workplace.

What does it mean for an employee to refuse to return from unpaid leave? Can an employee claim this constitutes a worsening of employment conditions? Is an employer allowed to return only some of its employees? What happens to employees who are unable to return? Check out this guide on returning from unpaid leave by Netta Bromberg, the head of our Employment Department.

A new court ruling may require employers to disclose materials collected during investigations into incidents of sexual harassment.

This past year has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride for employers in Israel, in terms of both their business activities and their role as employers. Now, when we can perhaps see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel in the form of Israel’s vaccination campaign, quite a few questions arise.

Israel entered another general lockdown, which began at midnight (January 8, 2021) and will continue until January 21, 2021. We have summarized the main guidelines concerning workplace activity during lockdown. The final and binding version of the regulations regarding workplace activity during lockdown have yet to be published.

Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority published its guidelines and emphases for protecting the privacy of individuals when conducting COVID-19 epidemiological investigations in workplaces.

Last July, the National Labor Court issued an important ruling on a service user’s obligation to take part in the termination and hearing process for contract workers employed on site. According to that ruling, the extent of the service user’s participation in the hearing depends on the circumstances. Accordingly, in our previous update, we tried to predict the criteria that would be taken into account, in order to analyze how the National Labor Court’s ruling should be applied in various scenarios.

The COVID-19 crisis has thrown many employers into economic difficulties. In these uncertain times, many employers are asking themselves if they are obligated to pay their employees bonuses. Just before the end of 2020, the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court issued a new ruling on this very subject. 

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, many employers have been forced to reduce employees' salaries. Such reductions, when not made through agreements or in an orderly fashion, may be fertile ground for claims regarding material worsening of work conditions, effective termination proceedings, and creating a stress-filled work environment.

A statutory amendment to the Economic Assistance Program Law (Novel Coronavirus) (Temporary Order) arranges payment for employees absent from work due to mandatory quarantine. The new arrangement stipulates that an employee entitled to sick pay from the first day of absence is also entitled to quarantine pay from the first day of absence. 

Our office will host on December 3, 2020, from 10:30-11:30 am, a webinar entitled "Proper Management in a Changing Labor Market." Topics include innovations in hearing procedures for terminating employees in light of COVID-19 and the impact of digital life on organizations and the nature of work.  

As a result of COVID-19, in recent months, many employers have closed their offices and required their employees to work from home, sometimes indefinitely. Employers and employees alike have learned that people no longer need to be present at an office to get work done. This has created another unique situation. Israelis who relocated to countries around the world are now either requesting to return to Israel to be close to their family or being asked by their companies to return home in order to save costs. The question is how can this work for an Israeli employed by an international company with no connection to Israel. What are the legal requirements in such a situation? Netta Bromberg, the head of our Employment Department, has published an article in Calcalist on the subject.  

Yesterday the Court granted the State’s request to extend the period during which employees may use paid sick leave for time in quarantine until October 28, 2020.  As you may remember, the Supreme Court repealed an order from the Ministry of Health, according to which a sweeping medical certificate was given to employees in quarantine due to possible exposure to COVID-19. This repeal was to have entered into effect on September 30, 2020.

The lockdown entered inְto effect on September 25, 2020, at 14:00, and is expected to continue until October 10, 2020. It is possible at the end of this period the lockdown will be extended. We have prepared an in-depth update for employers on the relevant topics.

A nationwide lockdown in Israel is to take effect on Friday, September 18, 2020, from 2 p.m., to last for at least 14 days, (the restrictions may be extended, in full or in part, as determined by the Israeli government). While the regulations are currently pending final approval by the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, they are expected to be enacted late tonight or early tomorrow.

According to a new amendment to the Male and Female Workers (Equal Pay) Law, employers must publish a yearly report outlining wage gaps between female and male employees. The amendment provides that certain employers must draft an internal yearly report detailing the average salary of their employees and the average wage gaps between men and women within each group of employees in the workplace.

An important ruling regarding workplace authority figures and the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace has established that one cannot automatically assume sexual comments or advances by an employee with managerial authority constitute sexual harassment. In this ruling, it appears, the National Labor Court has tempered to some extent widespread notions about sexual harassment by an authority figure.

About a year and a half after the investment fund Accelmed, which is managed by Uri Geiger, announced the merger of the company it controls, American Keystone Group, with the Israeli Paltop company, controlled by Shmuel Topaz, it is now acquiring the entire holdings in Paltop for NIS 100 million. This ends the conflict between the investor groups of Paltop and Accelmed. Advs. Daniel Lorber, Netta Bromberg, Harel Perlmutter and Dor Marinovsky represented the Topaz family and the Paltop investors.

The National Labor Court recently handed down an important ruling that concerns many employers in the market engaged with service provider companies. The National Labor Court ruled that although there were no employee-employer relations between the employee and its employer in this matter, the service user still had to take part in the employee’s termination and hearing process, in addition to the obligation of the direct employer to hold the hearing.

There have been a few recent updates to statutory provisions and administrative procedures regarding employees and employers during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The State of Israel continues to cope with the COVID-19 crisis and its implications for the workforce. In recent days, new and important guidelines were updated for the Israeli workforce’s handling of the coronavirus crisis

US President Donald Trump suspended on Monday the entry of certain foreign workers until the end of the year. Adv. Netta Bromberg, the head of our employment team, was interviewed by Calcalist about this latest development. She commented: "This decision is a long-term violation of the globalization process as we have known it in recent decades. Israeli startups looking to expand in the US will need to search for local workers and to recalculate what their business models should be.”

Adv. Netta Bromberg, the head of our Employment Department, will be a panelist on a webinar about HR considerations for employing workers in Japan. The webinar will be held by the Israel-Japan Chamber of Commerce together with GoGlobal Ltd. It is geared for Israeli companies considering opening activity in Japan or that have already done so and are considering relocating Israeli employees to the Japanese branch.

More will be told of the COVID-19 crisis and the changes it brought to Israeli labor relations. In the meantime, we have gathered brief guidelines on a return to normal:

A little over two months ago, at the start of the coronavirus crisis, a million Israelis were put on unpaid leave. With companies returning to normal under new restrictions, Maariv interviewed Netta Bromberg for a special guide to understand the rights of employees and the duties of employers.

This year, we were once again responsible for preparing the QA guide on doing business in Israel for the Practical Law website. The guide provides an overview of recent key developments that have affected doing business in Israel, including the legal system, foreign investment, employment, tax, competition, privacy, IP, etc.

Netta Bromberg will participate on an expert panel as part of a webinar held by Fox Rothschild LLP on the challenges faced by Israeli entrepreneurs and businesspersons residing in Israel or living abroad.

On April 19, new guidelines were introduced allowing a gradual return to the workplace. Here are the key guidelines. According to the guidelines, it is permitted to employ in a workplace whose opening has not been banned 10 employees or up to 30% of employees, whichever is higher. However, it is possible to increase the number of employees in the workplace in the industries and services fields beyond the 30% cap, subject to each workplace complying with the "purple tag" rules.

New regulations were signed on April 6, 2020 that allow pregnant women, women and men undergoing infertility treatment, and women returning to work after maternity leave to be put on unpaid leave, under certain conditions, without the need for a permit from the Ministry of Labor.

New guidelines for conduct in the workplace came into effect today in Israel.

On March 22, 2020, and again on March 25, 2020, emergency regulations on limiting market activity and limiting the number of employees in the workplace were published.

Several employment restrictions in light of the emergency regulations that were published in Israel and an update on giving retirement insurance and car use benefits during unpaid leave.

As a result of the economic downturn and in order to reduce expenses, one of the alternatives is imposing unpaid leave on employees.

Because of the coronavirus, many employers have been forced to consider minimizing expenses. In Israel several alternatives are being explored: reducing the scope of employment, lowering salaries, utilizing any available leave days, imposing unpaid leave on employees, reducing manpower, and conducting layoffs.

Adv. Netta Bromberg was interviewed by Mako in honor of International Women's Day to discuss women's status in the labor market.

Our firm represented the Spanish multinational industrial group MAT Investment Holdings in the merger of its Israeli subsidiary Dorot Management Control Valves from Kibbutz Dorot with A.R.I. Flow Control Accessories, a company owned indirectly by Kibbutz Kfar Haruv.

The Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Health published a directive on February 4, which states that an employee, volunteer, or service provider who is required to be quarantined under the home quarantine directive shall not be required to arrive at the workplace and shall not be granted entry even if he or she were to request this.

Join us for a seminar on the new international standards for internal alert mechanisms. The EU whistleblower protection directive that came into force in December 2019 and trends in the US signal a new duty—the obligation to formulate an in-house mechanism that allows employees to report improper or unethical conduct. To date, such mechanisms have largely been the responsibility of large companies subject to heavy regulation, but this reality is about to change. To what extent is your organization ready for such a mechanism? Are there any accepted standards for such mechanisms?

According to the Supreme Court, an employer may stipulate in the employment agreement an employee's right to royalties for the provision of service, as well as the compensation the employee may be entitled to for an invention.

Many employees think the main thing to negotiate on before signing an employment contract is monthly salary. However, various other benefits can help reduce employees' expenses and save them more money at the end of the month and in retirement.An expert in labor law, Netta Bromberg was recently interviewed by Bizportal on the differences between contracts signed with companies with collective agreements and companies subject to expansion orders.

Our firm represented Sartorius, a leading multinational corporation in the field of life science, research and development  and biopharmaceutical industry, in a transaction to acquire a majority stake in the Israeli cell culture developer Biological Industries. Sartorius acquired the majority of Biological Industries shares by way of secondary purchase of shares from the Development Company of Kibbutz Beit Haemek and private equity fund Fortissimo Capital, in consideration for USD 50 million. In addition, as part of the transaction, Sartorius and the Development Company of Kibbutz Beit Haemek signed an option to purchase/sell additional holdings in the future.

Schools and workplaces were closed earlier today following an announcement by IDF Central Command. As a result, many employees and business owners found themselves uncertain of their rights and what to do. Netta Bromberg, the head of our Employment Department, was interviewed on the subject. She explained under what conditions an employee can stay home and when an employer can require an employee to arrive anyway.

In September, Israel's National Labor Court dismissed an appeal by the Café Noir restaurant and affirmed the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court’s judgment, which held that the restaurant must pay NIS 300,000 compensation for infringing on its employees’ right to organize.

In a recent ruling, the Labor Court found that a short-term unapproved absence from work may constitute a disciplinary violation, and therefore be cause for termination, but cannot be seen as resignation.

The Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court recently ruled that an employee who took advantage of her sick leave as vacation days immediately after being summoned to a termination hearing warranted being denied severance pay and early notice payments.

Adv. Netta Bromberg, the head of our Employment Department, was interviewed by Ynet on the possibility of employees engaging in political issues and expressing their personal positions on social networks. According to Netta, "Publishing personal positions on social networks raises fundamental questions concerning the limits of freedom of expression in a democratic society, the special complexity of workplace relationships, and the line between the personal and the professional."

The election for the 22nd Knesset is approaching. What does the law say about workers' rights and obligations ?

The National Israeli Labor Court is an independent tribunal and thus only rarely does the High Court of Justice (HCJ) intervene in its decisions. Recently, in an unusual move, the HCJ twice reversed the rulings of the National Labor Court. In both cases as part of its policy to eliminate the phenomenon of workplace sexual harassment.

A new ruling may affect due diligence employment findings and reclassify high-tech companies as companies operating in the industrial sector.

Regional Court ruled that a woman who earned less than a man in the same position is entitled to compensation from her employer for discrimination.