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Latest Updates /  Employment

January 8, 2021

Prepare Your Workplace for Lockdown Number Three (and a Half)

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.

December 29, 2020

Epidemiological Investigations and Privacy Protection

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

December 27, 2020

Update on Service Users’ Obligation to Hold Hearings for Service Providers’ Employees

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.

December 22, 2020

Employees Do Not (Necessarily) Have a Vested Right to a Bonus, Even If They Received One for Years

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. 

December 22, 2020

New Case Law: Can Employees Consent to Worse Employment Conditions through Conduct?

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.

November 30, 2020

Payments to Employees Absent from Work Due to Mandatory Quarantine

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. 

November 23, 2020

Webinar: Proper Management in a Changing Labor Market

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.  

November 18, 2020

Acquiring an Israeli Company – Becoming an Israeli Employer

Israel has become an attractive destination for businesses, whether opening operations in Israel or acquiring existing operations. The Israeli market includes cutting-edge research and development and access to some of the leading talents in a range of industries. Many international entities have development centers in Israel (among the many are Intel, Microsoft, Google and SONY).

October 13, 2020

How to Comply with Local Employment Laws in a World with No Boundaries

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.  

October 2, 2020

Employment: Paid Sick Leave for Time in Quarantine

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.

September 30, 2020

Israel’s Second Lockdown: A Guide for Employers

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.

September 29, 2020

Jacki Silbermann Lectures on Workers' Rights

Jacki Silbermann, a lawyer from our firm's Employment Department, lectured today on workers' rights in Israel. The lecture was held as part of a program run by Israel Tech Challenge, an organization established to address the manpower shortage in the Israeli tech industry. Israel Tech Challenge offers intensive training programs for new immigrants who are outstanding graduates from leading universities around the world. The lecture was held as part of a training session for the ITC's Data Science Fellows program.

September 17, 2020

Updates Regarding the Upcoming Lockdown in Israel

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.

August 30, 2020

Employers Are Now Required to Publish Wage Gaps between Women and Men

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.

August 30, 2020

Not All Sexual Comments or Advances from a Supervisor Constitute Sexual Harassment

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.

August 5, 2020

Barnea Representing Original Shareholders the Topaz Family in Sale of Holdings in Keystone Group

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. We represented the Topaz family and the Paltop investors.

August 4, 2020

Service Users Must Now Hold Hearing Procedures for Service Providers’ Employees

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.

August 2, 2020

What Employees Need to Know About Stock Options

In a short video, Adv. Yuval Lazi explains the guiding principles in granting options, how you can estimate how much the options are worth, and what is important for an employee to know when he receives options.

July 29, 2020

Labor Law - An Important Update for Employers

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

June 30, 2020

New and Important COVID-19 Guidelines for the Israeli Labor Market

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