Advance notice for dismissal and resignation: table and calculator

Service page: Unlawful dismissal: when, what you are entitled to and how to sue.

You were dismissed, or you dismissed someone. The first question that comes up is: how many days of notice must be given? And the real question after it: what happens if notice is not given? Here is the legal framework, and what most people miss.

What does the Advance Notice of Dismissal and Resignation Law provide?

The Advance Notice of Dismissal and Resignation Law, 5761-2001, sets a minimum that cannot be contracted out of to the employee’s detriment. Employment agreements can give longer periods, but not shorter ones. In other words: even if you wrote “one week of advance notice” in the contract, this is not valid if the Law gives more.

How much notice is due? A calculation table

The period is set according to the seniority on the day the notice is given and according to the way the wages are paid. A monthly-salaried employee is an employee whose pay for work is mainly paid on the basis of a month or a longer period. An hourly or daily-paid employee is any other employee, for example one paid by the hour or by the day (section 1 of the Law, which refers to the definitions in section 12 of the Severance Pay Law, 5723-1963 (חוק פיצויי פיטורים, התשכ״ג-1963)).

The same periods also apply to advance notice of resignation (section 5). Important: collective agreements or sector extension orders may give a longer period (section 12 of the Law). Check your sector before you calculate.

What is payment in lieu of advance notice, and when may an employer pay it instead of having the employee work?

The employer can choose: let the employee work the notice period, or pay them the wages and release them immediately. Both are legally valid. You cannot require an employee to work without paying them in lieu of notice.

The payment equals the employee’s “regular wages”, the wages taken into account for calculating severance pay (sections 1 and 6 of the Law). It does not include one-time bonuses.

An hourly or daily-paid employee: a different calculation table

The accelerated calculation shown above (one day per month in the first half, 2.5 days per month in the second half) applies to an employee on a fixed monthly salary. An hourly or daily-paid employee accrues advance notice at a simpler rate: one day of advance notice for each full month of work. There is no acceleration in the first year, as there is for a monthly salary. So, for example, an hourly employee who worked 10 months is entitled to 10 days of advance notice, not 11 and not 21. In the second year, an hourly employee is entitled to 14 days plus one day for every two months of work in that year. In the third year, it is 21 days plus one day for every two months. Only after three years do they reach a full month of notice, like a monthly-salaried employee (section 4 of the Law).

A trial period, and the employer’s insolvency

A common mistake is to think that during a trial period (“not really an employee yet”) there is no right to advance notice. That is not true. The Law does not exclude a trial period, and the right applies already in the first months of work: one day for each month of work (sections 3(1) and 4(1)). A short period of work does not take away the right; it only reduces the number of days. The Law does not say expressly how an incomplete first month of work is counted when the notice is given during it. The calculator shows both options.

And what happens when the employer itself collapses financially? If the employer is insolvent or bankrupt and lacks the money to pay in lieu of advance notice, the debt is not erased. You can check with the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi) whether this component is included in the benefit. The benefit covers wage debts and severance pay up to a ceiling (section 183 of the National Insurance Law [Consolidated Version], 5755-1995). In any case, you can file a proof of debt in the insolvency proceedings. In practice, this means that the employer’s bankruptcy is not a reason not to pay; it only changes whom you turn to.

A numerical example: how much notice is due to an employee who worked 8 months?

A hypothetical example: a monthly-salaried employee dismissed at the end of the eighth month of work (the calculation under sections 3 and 4 of the Law, as of 4 October 2026). The calculation: for the first 6 months, 6 days (one day for each month). For the seventh and eighth months, 2.5 days times 2 months, that is, 5 more days. Total: 6 + 5 = 11 days of advance notice, or payment in lieu of them if the employer releases the employee immediately. If this were an hourly employee with the same seniority, the calculation would be simpler: 8 months of work = only 8 days of advance notice. There is no distinction between the first months and the later ones.

The calculation works in exactly the same way in the opposite direction. An employee who resigns of their own accord must give the employer the same advance notice period, according to the same table. The same monthly-salaried employee who decided to resign at the end of the eighth month must give the employer 11 days’ notice. That is exactly the number of days they would have received if they had been dismissed. If they resigned without giving notice, the employer may set off the value of the missing days. It can set them off against the last month’s wages or against any other payment due to the employee at the end of employment.

What happens when an employer dismisses without advance notice and without payment in lieu of it?

Dismissal without advance notice and without payment in lieu of it is a debt. An employee dismissed in this way can sue in the Labor Court and receive compensation equal to the wages for the notice period, plus interest. The Regional Labor Court has exclusive jurisdiction to hear a proceeding whose cause of action is in the Law (section 9). At the end of employment, the employer must also give the employee written confirmation of the start and end of the employment relationship (section 8). See also: unlawful dismissal.

And an employee who resigned without notice? The employer may set off the value of the notice from the final payment, but cannot force them to continue working.

Points most people do not know

• During maternity leave: an employee may not be dismissed. For 60 days after it, a dismissal requires approval from the Women’s Employment Law commissioner (section 9(c)(1) and (1a) of the Women’s Employment Law, 5714-1954 (חוק עבודת נשים, התשי״ד-1954)). These periods are not counted in the days of advance notice of dismissal (section 9(c)(3) of that Law).
• Resignation deemed dismissal: someone who resigns because of a material deterioration in working conditions (section 11(a) of the Severance Pay Law) may be treated as dismissed for the purpose of severance pay. But they must prove the deterioration.
• Sick days during the notice period: an employee may use accumulated sick days during the notice period. They do not shorten the notice period but are used within it.
• Vacation during the notice period: on dismissal, the days of advance notice are not counted as annual leave days, unless they exceeded 14 and to the extent they exceeded 14 (section 5(a)(7) of the Annual Leave Law, 5711-1951). In other words, an employer may count as vacation only the number of notice days above 14.
• A waiver in advance is not valid: according to case law, the advance notice in the Law is a mandatory minimum. So a clause in the employment contract that removes or shortens advance notice below the minimum in the Law is void.