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The US-Israel Legal Review 2019 71
reflect all of the employee’s employment terms.
There are many additional legal sources that
are binding and may entitle an employee to
certain rights. Therefore, when determining
the employees’ entitlements, additional sources
beyond those included in the employee’s
employment contract, should be examined.
C. Lack of application of termination procedures.
According to Israeli law, in general, termination
of employment requires valid grounds for
termination and is also subject to due process
requirements. Employers should comply with
such restrictions in order to minimise their risk
of future claims.
WHAT IS THE POSITION REGARDING THE
HOURS OF WORK AND REST LAW?
Working hours and overtime are governed by the
Hours of Work and Rest Law, 5711 – 1951 (the “
Rest
Law
”), and additional legislative sources.
The Israeli market generally works five days
a week, Sunday–Thursday. Following a recent
extension order regarding the shortening of the
work week, that came into effect on April 1, 2018,
the work week in Israel has reduced from 43 hours
to 42 hours; 182 hours per month. A night shift and
the work day preceding rest days shall not exceed 7
hours (not including overtime hours).
Employees are entitled to a weekly day of
rest. The rest days refer to a consecutive 36-hour
period which, for Jewish employees, must include
the Jewish Sabbath. In certain circumstances and
subject to certain conditions being met, the weekly
rest time is shortened to 25 hours, which include the
Jewish Sabbath. Working on the weekly rest days is
prohibited, unless a permit has been obtained from
the Minister. Such permits are not easily obtained. If
a permit is issued, then according to law, an employer
is required to pay employees 150% of their hourly
salary for every hour of work, and, in addition, to
provide the employee with an alternative weekly
day of rest, as stipulated in the permit.
We note that certain functionaries are
excluded from the application of the Rest Law,
such as: (i) employees in managerial positions;
(ii) employees whose duties require a special
fiduciary relationship; and (iii) employees whose
employment renders it impossible for the employer
to supervise their hours. We note that case law
gives a limited interpretation to the definition of
these groups of excluded employees.
The question of whether or not a certain
employee is, indeed, excluded from the application
of the Rest Law is dependent upon the specific
substance of the employer-employee relationship.
Consequently, if decided that due to the employee’s
position, the Rest Law does in fact apply to such
employee, a determination such as this may entitle
the employee to the statutory overtime payment
for all overtime hours actually worked by them.
AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE TAKEN INTO
CONSIDERATION WITH REGARD TO
OVERTIME?
Every working hour, in excess of the daily and/or
weekly quota according to the Rest Law is defined
as overtime. Working overtime is prohibited,
unless specifically permitted by the Minister, who
has issued specific permits for certain industries.
In addition, a general permit has been issued,
according to which employees may work up to 16
hours’ overtime per week. If an employee performs
night work, the length of the workweek, including
overtime, must not exceed 58 hours.
According to the Rest Law, employees who
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