Wage claim against an employer: unpaid salary, overtime, pension and recuperation pay

A wage paid on a monthly basis must be paid at the end of the month for which it is paid (section 9 of the Wage Protection Law, 5718-1958). “Delayed wages” are wages not paid by the “determining day”, which is the ninth day after the date they were due (section 1). So a salary for a given month that was not paid by the ninth day of the following month counts as delayed wages. An employee who has stopped working is also paid on the date they would have been paid had they continued working (section 12).

The definition is broad. “Wages” also include payments for holidays, productivity and overtime, and other payments owed to the employee because of and during their work (section 1). An amount the employer owes to a provident fund, such as a pension fund, is also treated as delayed wages if it was not paid to the fund within 21 days of the day the related wage became, or would have become, delayed. This applies whether it was deducted from the employee's wage or the employer owes it directly, and even when the wage itself was paid on time (section 19A(a)).

Not paying wages is also an offense: an employer who did not pay wages by the determining day, and did not prove that this was due to a circumstance beyond their control, commits an offense (section 25B(b1)).

“Compensation for late payment of wages” is added to a delayed wage, in the higher of these two amounts (section 17(a) of the Wage Protection Law):

• 5% of the delayed wage for the first week after the due date, and 10% for every week or part of a week after that; or
• linkage differentials to the consumer price index, from the due date to the payment date, plus 20% per month on the total of the delayed wage and the linkage differentials (and, for part of a month, pro rata).

The Regional Labor Court may reduce the compensation or cancel it, if it is convinced that the wage was not paid on time because of a genuine mistake, a circumstance beyond the employer's control, or a real dispute over the debt itself, provided that the amount not in dispute was paid on time (section 18). So there is no amount known in advance.

You can calculate the late-payment compensation for your dates with the late-wage compensation calculator.

Severance pay has a separate arrangement: it is considered delayed if it was not paid within 15 days of its due date, and the compensation for the delay is calculated differently (section 20). A detailed explanation, with examples, is in the guide to late payment of wages.

As a rule, for the first two overtime hours each day the employer pays at least 125% of the regular wage, and for every overtime hour after that at least 150% (section 16(a) of the Hours of Work and Rest Law, 5711-1951). Pay for work during the weekly rest hours is generally at least 150% of the regular wage (section 17). The “regular wage” for this purpose includes all the supplements the employer pays (section 18).

A “global wage” set as “including overtime” is generally treated as a regular wage only, and overtime pay is paid on top of it, unless a collective agreement approved for this purpose says otherwise (section 5 of the Wage Protection Law). The Hours of Work and Rest Law does not apply, among others, to employees in management positions or in positions that require a special degree of personal trust, or to employees whose working conditions do not allow the employer any supervision of their hours of work and rest (section 30(a)(5)–(6)).

And what about proof? In a wage claim where the working hours are disputed, an employer who did not present attendance records from a working-hours register, where the employer must keep one, bears the burden of proving that the employee was not available for work during those hours. For overtime, the burden shifts to the employer for up to 15 overtime hours a week or 60 a month (section 26B(a)–(b) of the Wage Protection Law). So it is worth keeping every record of your hours. More on the calculation in the guide to overtime.

Pension. Under the Extension Order on Increasing Pension Insurance Contributions in the Economy (2016) (צו ההרחבה בדבר הגדלת ההפרשות לביטוח פנסיוני במשק), since the wages for January 2017 the employer contributes at least 6.5% to the benefits (tagmulim) component and 6% to the severance component, and the employee contributes 6%. The first check is a month-by-month comparison of the payslip with the statement from the pension fund: what was deducted, what was contributed, and what actually reached the fund.

When an amount did not reach the fund, section 19A of the Wage Protection Law treats it as delayed wages, as explained above, and adds late-payment compensation to it (section 19A(b)). An employer who deducted amounts from an employee's wage and did not pass them on to the party they were meant for commits an offense (section 25B(c)).

Recuperation pay. The right comes from the Extension Order on Employer Participation in Recuperation and Vacation Expenses (צו ההרחבה בדבר השתתפות המעביד בהוצאות הבראה ונופש). An employee is entitled to it after completing one year of employment with the employer, and then also to the pro rata part of a year. The number of days rises from 5 in the first year to 10 from the twentieth year. The payment is pro rata to the scope of the position and is paid in one of the summer months, June to September, unless another date was agreed or is customary. The value of a recuperation day in the private sector for the 2026 recuperation year is NIS 451.50 (extension order published on 18 August 2026). And when the employer did not give a payslip, or gave one without a recuperation pay item, the wage paid is presumed to be a regular wage that does not include it, unless the employer proves otherwise (section 26B(c) of the Wage Protection Law). The full table and sample calculations: Recuperation pay 2026: how many days, how much money and when it is paid. On pension contribution rates and how to check them against the fund, see the guide to pension contributions.

Before you calculate what was not paid, it helps to know the minimum the law sets. The table sums up the rules, and each row links to the detailed guide.

These are minimums: a collective agreement, a sector extension order or the employment contract can set more.

An employer must give every employee a written payslip, no later than the determining day (section 24 of the Wage Protection Law). (As a rule, this duty does not apply to an individual who employs someone not as part of their business or profession: section 24(d).) The payslip must include, among other things, the number of days and working hours actually worked, vacation days and the remaining balance, the value of a regular hour, and every additional payment, such as overtime pay or recuperation pay, with the number of units and the amount (the Schedule to the Law).

What the law allows when this does not happen:

• Exemplary damages: when the employer knowingly did not give a payslip, or gave an incomplete one, the Labor Court may award damages that do not depend on harm, up to NIS 5,000 per payslip. This amount is updated by the index (CPI) on 1 January each year, and for special reasons that it records, the court may award a different amount. A breach in at least two months within 24 months creates a presumption that it was committed knowingly (section 26A(b)).
• Burden of proof: when there is no payslip, or it lacks overtime pay, weekly rest pay, vacation pay, recuperation pay or travel expenses, the wage paid is presumed to be a regular wage that does not include them, unless the employer proves otherwise (section 26B(c)).
• Monetary sanction (administrative fine): giving a payslip under section 24 is one of the provisions for whose breach the Ministry of Labor may impose a monetary sanction; in 2026 the amount is NIS 24,060 (Part B of the Second Schedule to the Increased Enforcement of Labor Laws Law, 5772-2011). The complaint is filed with the Ministry of Labor (the link is further down this page).

How to check a payslip line by line: Payslip: what must appear on it and how to read it. And if you want a lawyer and CPA to check it: payslip review.

A wage claim is generally time-barred after 7 years from the day the cause of action arose (sections 5(1) and 6 of the Prescription Law, 5718-1958). But some rights expire much sooner:

• Compensation for late payment of wages: within one year of the day the wage is considered delayed, or within 60 days of the day you received the wage, whichever is earlier; the Regional Labor Court may extend the 60 days to 90 (section 17A(a) of the Wage Protection Law). When the employer paid wages late three times within 12 consecutive months, the period can be extended up to three years (section 17A(b)–(c)).
• Annual leave: a claim under the Annual Leave Law, 5711-1951, is time-barred after 3 years (section 31 of that Law).

In practice: someone who received the wage late and waits may lose the late-payment compensation, even when the wage itself can still be claimed.

And once a claim has been filed? According to the 2023 annual report of the Judicial Authority (the Israeli Judiciary), the average life of a case in the labor courts was 12.2 months in a labor dispute heard by a judge, 8.3 months in a labor dispute heard by a registrar, and 5.4 months in an expedited proceeding case. This is an average for each type of case, and not a promise about any specific case. The stages and deadlines are set out in the guide to Labor Court proceedings.

For the full explanation of compensation for late payment of wages, see: Late salary in Israel: when and how to sue the employer