Client updates / Employment

Summer vacation is here. It’s time for an important reminder on youth labor laws.

An amendment to the Protection of Employees extends the statute of limitations period for filing a claim from one year to three years.

LGBTQ couples have clear rights under Israeli labor law, even parental leave.

The Amendment will become effective on June 1, 2022. Under this amendment, an employee suffering from a malignant disease or a condition that requires regular dialysis, or who recovered from such a disease, is eligible for full sick pay (100%) from the first day of his or her absence

An amendment to the Employment of Women Law, which went into effect on March 14, dictates that employers may not refuse to hire women or single parents simply because they do not agree to work night shifts due to family considerations. 

A new amendment to the Male and Female Workers (Equal Pay) Law aims to promote equal employment terms in Israel.

Omicron is taking control of the labor market in Israel. Many employees are stuck at home in quarantine (or are ill). At the same time, there is still plenty of work. As a result, and in order to enable the Israeli economy to contend with the drastic drop in the number of available employees in the labor market, the government issued a new special permit on January 16, 2022, extending permitted overtime hours

Updated regulations for the implementation of the Green Pass in Israeli workplaces will come into effect on October 5, 2021. Following are some of the main guidelines of the regulations.

There has been an uptrend in recent years of employers using a variety of technological tools to supervise their employees and oversee the quality of their work. The use of these tools has become more prevalent due to the shift of many organizations to working from home last year.

Due to the recent increase in incidences of COVID-19, there has been an update to the guidelines on quarantine payments to employees. Here are the main points of the update, for your convenience.

On June 1, 2021, the regulations that guided the conduct of workplaces during the coronavirus crisis expired. Accordingly, from this day forward, there is no longer a requirement to operate in accordance with the green tag or purple tag directives in the workplace. At this stage, holding gatherings, professional trainings, and group meals at the workplace is permitted, even without observing social distancing.

One of the possible contractual forms between parties is the provision of services as an independent contractor (in colloquial terms, a freelancer). This type of contracting is not particularly favored by labor courts, which seek, as a policy matter, to apply employment relations in cases involving claims of the existence of an employee-employer relationship. Once in a while, labor courts establish new rules on recognizing employment relationships and on retroactive calculation of the rights of independent contractors as employees.

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.

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.

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

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.

The Collective Agreements Law provides that the union must represent the majority of unionized employees to whom the collective bargaining agreement applies, and no less than one-third of the total employees to whom the agreement applies. The union must notify the employer of its claim to be recognised as a representing body and the employer may examine the signatures of employees joining the union.

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.