Sabbatical year: rights and duties

Service page: Employment lawyer: dismissals, wages and severance pay.

A sabbatical: a contractual arrangement, not a legal right

Unlike annual leave or sick pay, a sabbatical is not a right set by law in Israel. It began as a contractual arrangement that was common mainly in academic institutions, and from there it spread to large corporations and high-tech companies.

What this means: if your employment contract says nothing about a sabbatical, you probably have no right to one. If it does, its terms are set in the contract.

What the sabbatical agreement sets

Typical sabbatical agreements include:

• Minimum seniority: usually 5–7 years of employment before the first entitlement
• Length: usually 1–3 months, sometimes up to a year
• Pay: is the sabbatical on full pay, partial pay or without pay?
• Return terms: must the employee come back for a minimum period after the sabbatical?
• Keeping benefits: pension, health insurance: are they kept? In full?

The effect of a sabbatical on pension and severance pay

A critical question that many people miss:

• On a sabbatical with full pay, pension contributions continue as usual
• On a sabbatical without pay, contributions may stop and this period may not count toward seniority
• As for severance pay, it depends on the wording of the agreement and on the relevant case law
• Unemployment benefit: not during a sabbatical you initiated. Entitlement to unemployment benefit during unpaid leave depends on the employee having been sent on leave at the employer’s initiative and for a period of at least 30 calendar days; someone who took unpaid leave of their own choice is not entitled

An unpaid sabbatical: are your rights preserved?

During an unpaid sabbatical:

• The employment link is preserved: the employment relationship is suspended, not cut off, and section 2(5) of the Severance Pay Law, 5723-1963 lists “leave or a break without pay given to the employee under law or with the employer’s consent” as continuity of employment. Dismissal during an agreed sabbatical is not prohibited by a specific law, but it may amount to a breach of contract
• Priority for returning to your position: it is common to agree on this in advance
• Accruing rights (such as sick days): as a rule they do not accrue during the sabbatical

When the employer refuses to honor a sabbatical agreement

If an employer refuses to allow a sabbatical that was promised in the contract:

• You can sue for enforcement of the agreement in the Labor Court
• In some cases, you can argue a deterioration in conditions that allows resignation deemed dismissal
• Always: document the written arrangement and your attempts to use it

Where the right comes from, and how you prove it

Since there is no sabbatical law, the right comes from one of three sources: a personal employment contract, a collective agreement or extension order that applies to the workplace, or practice: an arrangement actually applied over time to employees at a similar level. The first two are easy to prove; the third needs evidence work: who received it, when, on what terms, and how many times.

This is where a tool that many people do not know comes in. The Notice to Employee and Job Candidate (Terms of Employment and Screening and Hiring Procedures) Law, 5762-2002 (חוק הודעה לעובד ולמועמד לעבודה (תנאי עבודה והליכי מיון וקבלה לעבודה), התשס״ב-2002) requires the employer to give the employee a written notice of the terms of employment no later than thirty days from the start of work (section 1), and to set out in it, among other things, “the total of all payments payable to the employee as wages”, the length of the working day and week, and “the types of payments by the employer and by the employee for social benefits” (section 2(a)). Section 3 requires notice of a change in the terms within thirty days, with exceptions, such as a change that results from a change in the law or a change that appears on the payslip.

And what if the employer did not give it? Section 5(a) gives the Regional Labor Court exclusive jurisdiction, and allows it to award damages “even if no monetary damage was caused” and to issue a mandatory injunction to remedy the breach. Section 5(b) adds exemplary damages when the employer knowingly failed to give notice: the amount stated in the Law is NIS 15,000, and it is updated on 1 January each year by the index, with the base index being the index published in July 2011, so linking it to the update of 1 January 2026 gives NIS 18,270.58 according to data of the Central Bureau of Statistics. In other words, the lack of written documentation is not only an evidence problem for you; it is also a breach by the employer.

A paid sabbatical versus unpaid leave: what really changes

Most “sabbaticals” in the private sector are in fact unpaid leave (halat). Unpaid leave is not a right set by law either: it requires the consent of both parties. These are the practical consequences, according to the information published on Kol Zchut:

• National Insurance (Bituach Leumi): the employer must pay National Insurance contributions for the employee for the first two full calendar months of the unpaid leave. After that the employee pays them personally, and not paying may harm their rights.
• Seniority: does not accrue during unpaid leave.
• Severance pay: up to 14 days in a year of employment count for calculating severance pay; anything beyond that does not (regulation 10(3) of the Severance Pay Regulations (Calculation of Severance Pay and Resignation Deemed Dismissal), 5724-1964). But continuity is not broken: section 2(5) of the Severance Pay Law, 5723-1963 states expressly that employment is regarded as continuous even when it was interrupted by “leave or a break without pay given to the employee under law or with the employer’s consent”.
• Accruals: vacation days, sick days and recuperation pay do not accrue during unpaid leave.
• Pension: there is no duty to make contributions during unpaid leave unless otherwise agreed, and this is the point most worth settling in advance.

So the distinction between a “sabbatical on full pay”, a “sabbatical on partial pay” and “unpaid leave” is not a matter of words: it determines whether you accrue seniority, whether pension contributions continue, and what the wage basis for calculating severance pay will be on the day you leave. When the employer reads the arrangement differently from you, these questions are decided in the Labor Court, and there you need representation in the Labor Court with an orderly calculation of seniority and contributions.

A sabbatical year for teaching staff: the regulated track

In education there is a dedicated mechanism: the study fund (keren hishtalmut) for teaching staff, which is meant mainly to finance a sabbatical year. According to Kol Zchut, the fund is made up of employee contributions at 4.2% of salary and employer contributions at 8.4%, a total of 12.6%. And a point worth weighing before deciding: anyone who withdraws the money without going on a study sabbatical receives only about 90% of the employer’s money. In other words, giving up the sabbatical also means giving up money.

A practical route: how to apply and put it in writing

1. Find out what the source is. A contract? A collective agreement? Practice? The rest of the process follows from the answer.
2. Submit a written request with proposed dates, length and a proposal for a handover, not orally and not only in a meeting.
3. Agree on eight points in writing: start and end dates; pay (full, partial or none); continued pension contributions and who bears them; National Insurance contributions after two months; accrual of seniority; the position you will return to; any restriction on other work during the period; and the consequences of not returning.
4. Update the notice of employment terms: a change in the terms requires written notice under section 3 of the Notice to Employee Law.
5. Check with the funds where your policy and accounts stand before you leave, and ask for written confirmation of the arrangement for the period of absence.

What to document

• The request, the approval and all the correspondence, including oral approvals that were agreed and then confirmed by email.
• Evidence of practice: names and positions of other employees who received a sabbatical, and when.
• The payslips from before you left and after you returned: they show whether the terms were kept.
• Confirmation from the fund or the insurance company of the status of contributions during the period of absence.

Common mistakes

• Relying on an oral agreement. Without writing, even a real arrangement is hard to prove, and it was the employer who had to provide the document.
• Ignoring the pension. Stopping contributions may also harm the insurance cover (loss of work capacity and survivors), not only the savings.
• Assuming there will be unemployment benefit. Unpaid leave at the employee’s initiative does not give entitlement to unemployment benefit.
• Not agreeing on the return. Without an express definition of the position you return to, “a return to a different position” may turn into an argument over a material deterioration in working conditions.
• Forgetting the duty to repay. If the agreement makes a paid sabbatical conditional on continued employment, read carefully what happens if you leave.

When a lawyer is worth it, and when not

You can manage on your own: asking for a short sabbatical at a workplace where the arrangement is written and clear, and summing up the terms by email.

It is worth involving a lawyer: when you rely on “practice” and not on a document; when the sabbatical is long and significant pension contributions are involved; when the agreement includes a duty to return or to repay wages; when the employer goes back on an approval; and when you came back and found a different position. There the question is whether this is a “material deterioration in working conditions” under section 11(a) of the Severance Pay Law, which allows resignation deemed dismissal.

FAQ

Am I entitled to a sabbatical by law?

No. No Israeli law gives a right to a sabbatical year. The right comes from an employment contract, from a collective agreement or extension order that applies to the workplace, or from a practice actually applied. Without one of these there is no right, and the request is at the employer’s discretion.

What happens to my severance pay during an unpaid sabbatical?

Continuity is not broken: section 2(5) of the Severance Pay Law, 5723-1963 recognizes “leave or a break without pay given to the employee under law or with the employer’s consent” as continuity of employment. For calculating severance pay, up to 14 days in a year of employment out of the unpaid leave period are counted (regulation 10(3) of the Severance Pay Regulations (Calculation of Severance Pay and Resignation Deemed Dismissal), 5724-1964).

Will I get unemployment benefit during a sabbatical?

As a rule, no. Entitlement to unemployment benefit during unpaid leave depends on the employee having been sent on leave at the employer’s initiative and for a period of at least 30 calendar days; someone who took unpaid leave of their own choice, for example to travel or to study, is not entitled. In addition, accrued vacation days that were not used delay the start of payment.

What happens to pension and National Insurance during an unpaid sabbatical?

According to Kol Zchut, the employer must pay National Insurance contributions for the employee for the first two full calendar months of the unpaid leave, and after that the employee pays them personally. Pension contributions are not mandatory during unpaid leave unless otherwise agreed, so this is the point worth settling in writing in advance, also because of the possible harm to the insurance cover (loss of work capacity and survivors), not only to the savings.

My employer promised a sabbatical and now refuses. What do I do?

First, collect the documentation: the correspondence, the notice of employment terms, and evidence of the practice toward other employees. Second, send a written demand to honor the arrangement. Third, you can sue for enforcement or compensation in the Regional Labor Court. If the employer also failed to give written notice of the terms of employment or of a change in them, the court may award damages even without monetary damage, and if the failure to give notice was knowing, exemplary damages under section 5(b) of the Notice to Employee Law: the amount stated in the Law is NIS 15,000, and linked to the index the cap is NIS 18,270.58 as of the update of 1 January 2026.