Sexual harassment at work: the employer’s duties and the employee’s rights

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

What is prohibited under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law?

The Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law, 5758-1998 defines several situations that amount to sexual harassment:

• Repeated approaches of a sexual nature after the other person has made clear they are unwelcome
• Blackmail by threats, when the act the person is required to do is of a sexual nature (section 3(a)(1))
• Sexual proposals or references made by exploiting authority in an employment relationship or in studies, or by exploiting dependence in a treatment setting, even if the victim did not show they were not interested in them (section 3(a)(6))
• Indecent acts (section 3(a)(2))
• A degrading or humiliating reference to a person’s sex or sexuality, and publishing a photograph, film or recording of a person that focuses on their sexuality, without their consent and in circumstances that may humiliate them (section 3(a)(5) and (5a))

An important point: when the proposals or references are made by exploiting authority in an employment relationship, there is no need to show that they are unwelcome (section 3(a)(6)(c)); and for harm at work that stems from harassment under section 3(a)(3) or (4), section 7 of the Employment (Equal Opportunities) Law, 5748-1988 (חוק שוויון ההזדמנויות בעבודה, התשמ״ח-1988) provides that a single proposal or reference is enough.

The employer’s duties: what does the law require?

The employer is not just a bystander. The law imposes active duties on the employer, and failing to meet them is also a cause of action:

• Publish: an employer of more than 25 employees must adopt a set of rules (takanon) that sets out the main points of the Law and the ways to file complaints, and publish it among the employees (section 7(b))
• Appoint a person responsible for receiving and investigating complaints: a duty that applies to every employer; a small employer may name itself as the responsible person (regulation 4 of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (Employer Obligations) Regulations, 5758-1998 (תקנות למניעת הטרדה מינית (חובות מעסיק), התשנ״ח-1998))
• Investigate every complaint that is filed
• Take appropriate action against the harasser
• Protect the complainant from retaliation following the complaint

An employer that did not meet its duties under section 7(a) and (b) is liable for a civil wrong committed by its employee, or by a manager on its behalf, within the employment relationship (section 7(c)).

What to do when harassment happens

Three immediate actions that will determine how strong your case is:

First: documentation. Keep every message, email, screenshot and call record. Write the date, the time, what was said and who was present in a personal diary. Do not delete anything: even what seems trivial may be relevant later.

Second: a written complaint. File a formal complaint with the person responsible for sexual harassment complaints and with HR, and keep a copy with a date stamp. A complaint can also be made orally: the responsible person records its content, the complainant signs the record and receives a copy (regulation 5); a written complaint is easier to prove.

Third: follow-up. The investigation must be carried out efficiently and without delay (regulation 6(d)), and the employer decides how to handle the matter within 7 working days of receiving the responsible person’s summary (regulation 7(a)). If no investigation was opened and you received no answer, you can turn to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. If a criminal offense is involved, go to the police as well.

A civil claim: what can you get?

The Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law allows compensation without proof of damage that actually occurred: “statutory compensation” that section 6(b) sets at NIS 120,000 and links to the index with a base of August 2013, updated every year on 1 January. The updated amount is published in Reshumot (the official gazette). This means that even if the harm is hard to quantify, the court can award significant compensation.

In addition, actual damages can be claimed: loss of wages because of dismissal or resignation, harm to the ability to work, and the costs of psychological and other treatment. Claims are filed with the Labor Court (if the harassment took place in an employment setting) or with a civil court. The claim becomes time-barred after the period set in section 5 of the Prescription Law, 5718-1958: seven years (section 6(c)).

There is also a criminal route: sexual harassment under section 3(a)(3), (4), (5) or (6) is an offense punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment, retaliation by up to three years, and harassment and retaliation together by up to four years (section 5). Filing a complaint with the police and a civil route do not contradict each other.

Conditions and deadlines: complaint, investigation and claim

A hypothetical example: an employee filed a written complaint on 4 October 2026 with the responsible person. The responsible person investigates the complaint efficiently and without delay (regulation 6(d)) and submits a summary and recommendations to the employer; if the summary was submitted on 1 November 2026, the employer must decide within 7 working days and give her a reasoned notice in writing (regulation 7(a) and (b)). A civil claim for the same harassment can be filed within seven years of the day the cause of action arose (section 6(c) of the Law). The rules follow the text as of 4 October 2026.

What to keep

• Messages, emails and screenshots, as received and with the date.
• A log of events: date, time, what was said and who was present.
• A copy of the complaint and, if it was made orally, a copy of the signed record (regulation 5(d)).
• The employer’s reasoned notice of its decision (regulation 7(b)).
• Any change in your terms of employment after the complaint: assignment, pay, position or promotion.

Retaliation: the offense that comes after

After filing a complaint, many employees experience “retaliation”: a negative change in their terms of employment, social isolation, a halted promotion, a transfer to a marginal department, or dismissal. All of these may count as “retaliation”, meaning harm of any kind that stems from sexual harassment or from a complaint or claim filed about it, which is a civil wrong and a separate offense, punished even more severely than the harassment itself (sections 3(b), 5(b) and 6).

Document every change in your terms of employment that happened after you filed the complaint, in real time and not after the fact. In a claim under section 7 of the Employment (Equal Opportunities) Law, the burden of proof shifts to the employer if the employee proved that they were harassed, that they complained or that they helped with a complaint (section 9(b) of that Law).