Employment law support for employers: hearings, dismissals and employee claims

An employer who wants to dismiss an employee must give them written advance notice that states the day the notice was issued and the day the dismissal takes effect (section 2 of the Advance Notice of Dismissal and Resignation Law, 5761-2001). The length of the notice depends on seniority and on how the wage is paid. An employee whose wage is mainly paid on a monthly basis (a “monthly-salaried employee”) is entitled to advance notice of:

• one day for each month of work, during the first six months of work;
• 6 days, plus two and a half days for each month of work, from the seventh month to the end of the first year;
• one month, after the first year (section 3).

An employee who is not a monthly-salaried employee, for example an employee paid by the hour or by the day (an “hourly or daily-paid employee”), has a different scale, which reaches one month after the third year (section 4).

The employer may waive the employee's work during the notice period, in whole or in part, if it pays them their regular wage for that period (section 6(a)). An employer who dismissed an employee without advance notice must pay compensation equal to the regular wage for the period for which notice was not given (section 7(a)). And when the employment ends, the employer must give the employee written confirmation of the start and end of the employment relationship; an employer who did not give it within 14 days of the last day of work, or within 7 days of the employee's written request, whichever is earlier, commits an offense (section 8).

Within 30 days of the start of work (and for a young worker, within 7 days), the employer must give the employee written notice of the terms of employment (section 1 of the Notice to Employee and Job Candidate (Terms of Employment and Screening and Hiring Procedures) Law, 5762-2002). The notice includes, among other things, the identity of the employer and the employee, the start date, the main duties and the direct supervisor, the total payments and the wage payment dates, the length of the regular working day or working week, the weekly rest day, and the payments for social benefits and the bodies they are transferred to (section 2(a)). A change in the terms must be notified within 30 days, with exceptions, for example a change that results from a change in the law, or a change that appears on the payslip (section 3). The Law does not apply to an employee whose period of employment is no more than 30 days (and for a young worker, 7 days) (section 9).

The notice is also evidence. In an employee's claim where a matter that should have appeared in the notice is disputed, and the employer did not give the notice, the burden of proof on that matter shifts to the employer, provided the employee has testified to their claim (section 5A). When the notice was knowingly not given, the Labor Court may also award the employee damages that do not depend on harm (section 5(b)).

The notice is prepared according to Form 1 of the Notice to Employee (Terms of Employment) (Form and Details of Notice) Regulations, 5762-2002 (תקנות הודעה לעובד (תנאי עבודה) (צורת הודעה ופרטיה), התשס״ב-2002), and also includes the wage basis and any payment in kind, if agreed (regulations 1–2). A written employment contract that includes all these details, and was given to the employee within the deadlines, fulfills the duty (section 2(d)). The details, the deadlines and the form: Notice of employment terms: what it must include.

The heading “independent contractor” in the contract does not decide the matter. The Labor Court applies a “mixed test” centered on the integration test: is the person integrated into your organization (hours, team, subordination, continuity, exclusivity), and do they work through an independent business of their own that bears the risk and the expenses (HCJ 5168/93; Labor Appeal 300021/98; as summarized in Labor Appeal 15868-04-18, paragraphs 9–10)?

If a worker is recognized as an employee after the fact, they are entitled to employee rights for the period that is not time-barred. Under the principles set by the National Labor Court in an expanded panel in the Kota case (Labor Appeal 15868-04-18, 7 April 2021), the employer may set off against the rights awarded only up to the gap between the payment it made and the cost of an employee according to the “alternative wage”, and it must prove the alternative wage; if it does not, there is no set-off. According to the opinion of the President of the court, the starting point is that the court will also award non-monetary compensation, and the burden of persuading it not to do so is on the employer (paragraphs 65–67). The tests, the judgments and the questions the court examines: Employer-employee relationship: employee or independent contractor. Before engaging a freelancer, you can go through the “employee or contractor?” questionnaire, which arranges the answers according to the tests in the case law, without deciding. What goes into an agreement with a contractor: Independent contractor agreement.

In certain periods, the law protects the employee even when the employer has a reason that seems legitimate to the employer. In short:

• Pregnancy and birth: dismissing a pregnant employee who has worked for the employer for at least 6 months requires a permit from the Minister of Labor, which will not be given if the dismissal is related to the pregnancy (section 9(a) of the Women's Employment Law, 5714-1954). During the birth and parenting period, dismissal is completely forbidden (section 9(c)(1)).
• Fertility treatment: during an absence for treatment, and in the 150 days after it, dismissal without a permit is forbidden (section 9(e)(1) of the Women's Employment Law). Under the conditions in section 9(e)(3), the protection also applies to someone who was not absent from work during the treatment period.
• Reserve duty: it is forbidden to dismiss an employee because of reserve duty; during the service, and for service of more than two consecutive days also in the 30 days after it, dismissal is forbidden without a permit from the Employment Committee (ועדת התעסוקה) at the Ministry of Defense (section 41A of the Discharged Soldiers (Reinstatement in Employment) Law, 5709-1949).
• Illness: as a rule, it is forbidden to dismiss an employee who was absent because of illness, during the period of entitlement to sick pay they accumulated (section 4A of the Sick Pay Law, 5736-1976).
• Discrimination: it is forbidden to discriminate in dismissal on the grounds listed in section 2 of the Employment (Equal Opportunities) Law, 5748-1988 (חוק שוויון ההזדמנויות בעבודה, התשמ״ח-1988), including sex, pregnancy, parenthood, age, religion and reserve duty.

The details, including the exceptions, are on the wrongful dismissal page. Before a dismissal in such a period, first check whether a permit is required.

An employer must keep a register of working hours: working hours, weekly rest hours, overtime hours and the pay for them (section 25(a) of the Hours of Work and Rest Law, 5711-1951). The record is kept on an ongoing basis and includes the actual hours; when it is not kept by mechanical, digital or electronic means, the employee signs it every day and it is approved by the signature of a person in charge appointed by the employer, unless another method was set (section 25(a1)). Under a notice published under section 25(b), the duty applies to anyone who employs an employee for a business, a profession or a public service.

The practical reason: in a wage claim where the working hours are disputed, an employer who did not present attendance records bears the burden of proving that the employee was not available for work during those hours. For overtime, this applies up to 15 hours a week or 60 a month (section 26B(a)–(b) of the Wage Protection Law). And when the payslip does not include items such as overtime pay, vacation pay or recuperation pay, the wage paid is presumed to be a regular wage that does not include them, unless the employer proves otherwise (section 26B(c)).

The payslip itself must include the details listed in the Schedule to the Wage Protection Law, and must be given to the employee no later than the determining day (section 24). When the employer knowingly did not give a payslip, or gave an incomplete one, the Labor Court may award exemplary damages for each such payslip (section 26A(b)). The payslip review also suits an employer who wants to make sure the payslips are correct, before an audit or before an employee's employment ends.

The Ministry of Labor may impose a monetary sanction (administrative fine) on an employer for breaching provisions listed in the Second Schedule to the Increased Enforcement of Labor Laws Law, 5772-2011 (section 3). The amounts are updated by the index (CPI) on 1 January each year (section 9(b)). In 2026:

(Section 3 and the Second Schedule; the amounts under a notice in Yalkut HaPirsumim (official notices gazette) 14188, 22 January 2026)

How it works:

1. Notice of intent to impose a charge. The commissioner gives notice of the breach, the amount and the right to respond (section 5). Instead, the commissioner may serve an administrative warning to stop the breach (section 15).
2. 30 days to respond in writing. If the employer did not respond within 30 days, the notice is treated as a demand for payment (sections 6, 7(c)).
3. Payment within 30 days of the day the demand for payment was delivered (section 10).
4. Appeal (arar) within 14 days to an appeals committee, and after that an appeal to the Regional Labor Court within 45 days (sections 18, 21). Filing an appeal to the committee or to the court does not delay the payment, unless the committee or the court orders otherwise (section 22).

Note: for a continuing breach, one-fiftieth of the sanction is added for each day; for a repeated breach of the same provision within two years of an earlier breach for which a sanction was imposed or for which the employer was convicted, an amount equal to the sanction is added (section 4). The general manager of a corporation must supervise and take reasonable measures to prevent breaches, and if they did not do so after a warning, a personal sanction may be imposed on them (section 14). The fact that a sanction was imposed, and its amount, are published on the Ministry of Labor website; the name of the offender is published, except for an individual (section 17).

When the court instructs a defendant to file a statement of defense, it must be filed within 30 days of the day the instruction was served on the defendant, or of the day it was given, if it was given in the defendant's presence. A judge or a registrar may extend the deadline, and for special reasons also shorten it (regulations 27 and 28 of the Labor Court Regulations (Rules of Procedure), 5752-1991). If a defendant did not file a statement of defense on time, the court may give judgment against them in their absence, based on the statement of claim alone (regulation 43(a)).

The statement of defense must respond to every allegation in the statement of claim; a general denial is not enough (regulation 29(a)). An allegation of fact that was not denied, expressly or by implication, is generally treated as admitted (regulation 30(a)). So already in the first days it is wise to collect the payslips, attendance records, the notice of employment terms, the documentation of the hearing and the dismissal letter, and to check whether some of the items claimed are time-barred, for example compensation for late payment of wages (section 17A of the Wage Protection Law) or claims under the Annual Leave Law (section 31 of that Law). The guide to Labor Court proceedings sets out the stages of the proceedings.