Working on Knesset election day: a day of rest, wages and who works on it

The elections to the 26th Knesset took place on 27 October 2026; the rules below apply in every election.

You were not paid properly for election day: what do you do?

Claims between an employee and an employer whose cause of action lies in an employer-employee relationship are heard in the Regional Labor Court (section 24(a)(1) of the Labor Court Law, 5729-1969).

Before you take action, it is worth checking in your October payslip whether election day was paid and, if you worked on it, whether the additional payment was also paid. If something is missing, the first step is to contact the employer in writing. This is what payslip review by a lawyer and CPA looks like, and the page Employment law sets out the other types of claims against an employer. See also: Wage claim against an employer.

Service page: Payslip review by a lawyer and CPA.

When is election day, and is it a day of rest?

The elections to the 26th Knesset were held on Tuesday, 27 October 2026. This was set by the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee in an opinion of 20 April 2023 (file ה״ש 1/26), under Basic Law: The Knesset. Section 9 of the Basic Law provides that the elections to the Knesset will, as a rule, be held on the third Tuesday of the month of Heshvan of the year in which the term of the outgoing Knesset ends.

Section 10 of Basic Law: The Knesset provides: “Election day shall be a day of rest, but transport services and other public services shall operate as usual.” According to a review by the Knesset Research and Information Center (May 2023), it is a day of rest on which you can choose not to work without a vacation day being deducted for it.

Who is entitled to pay for the day of rest?

Under section 136 of the Knesset Elections Law [Consolidated Version], 5729-1969, an employee who worked for an employer for at least 14 consecutive days close to election day is entitled to have the employer pay them the wage they would have earned with that employer on election day had it not been a day of rest. The same right is given to an employee who worked in initiated public works at one of the public institutions for at least 14 days out of the two months before election day.

An hourly employee, a part-time employee or a new employee: section 136 does not distinguish between a monthly employee and an hourly employee. The payment is the wage the employee would have earned with the employer on election day had it not been a day of rest, so a person who was not supposed to work on that day anyway (for example, a part-time employee who does not work on Tuesdays) is usually not entitled to the payment. An employee who started working for the employer less than 14 days before election day does not meet the condition of the section. Whether the condition of “14 consecutive days” means 14 actual working days or 14 days of an employer-employee relationship is disputed, and a part-time employee should check their own situation.

Who works on election day?

The Basic Law excludes transport services and other public services, which operate as usual. The Central Elections Committee sets which types of services will be considered public services for this purpose, and their operating hours, no later than the 45th day before election day, and it publishes a notice about this no later than the 35th day before it (section 71A of the Knesset Elections Law).

If you are not sure whether your workplace is included in the list, you can check this in the decision of the Central Elections Committee on the types of public services that will operate as usual on election day (in Hebrew; adopted 6 September 2026, published 22 September 2026).

How much is paid to someone who works on election day?

Section 136 itself does not state a rate of payment for work on election day. According to a background document of the legal advisers to the Knesset’s Constitution Committee (27 February 2022), the accepted interpretation is that an employee who worked on election day receives the wage under section 136 in addition to the wage for the work actually done, that is, 200% of their wage. This is an interpretation and not an express provision of the Law, and the matter is disputed. According to Kol Zchut, such an employee “may be entitled to a wage of 200%, or to a regular wage and a day off at another time”, and this applies only to some employees.

Employees who are not Israeli citizens: what is the special arrangement?

Section 136A of the Knesset Elections Law applies to an employee who is not an Israeli citizen and is employed in the caregiving sector by an individual, or in the hotel, restaurant, construction, agriculture or industry sectors. Such an employee who is employed at their work on election day does not receive a payment under section 136, but their right to their regular wage for that day is preserved. Such an employee who was absent from work on election day even though they were required to work also does not receive a payment under section 136.

Such an employee who was absent on election day because of illness, annual leave, holidays, compensatory rest instead of weekly rest, mourning, or an absence permitted under section 7 of the Women’s Employment Law, 5714-1954, is entitled to payment according to their regular wage, if they are entitled to such payment under the labor laws, the employment contract, a collective agreement, an extension order or a collective arrangement. The section does not detract from a right set in a collective agreement, an extension order or the employment contract (section 136A(d)).

Working on election day: when can you vote, and what is the employer prohibited from doing?

On election day the polling station is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and in a locality where the number of people entitled to vote does not exceed 350, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (section 72(a) of the Knesset Elections Law). A person who arrived at the polling station during voting hours is entitled to vote even if their vote was delayed until after the end of voting hours (section 72(b)).

A person who dismisses someone from work or threatens to dismiss them, or prevents them from getting work or threatens to prevent it, so that they will vote or not vote, or because they voted or did not vote, commits an offense that carries, under the Law, five years’ imprisonment or a fine (section 122(5) of the Knesset Elections Law).

A person who votes in another locality: transporting people entitled to vote from one locality to another and back, for the purpose of voting, is funded by the State Treasury through the Central Elections Committee, on the transport lines and over the distances that the Committee sets (section 134A).