“Night shift” is specifically defined in the “work and rest hours” labor law (1951): “Any work day of which at least two hours are between 22:00 and 06:00 shall be considered night shift.”
Note: It is enough that a minimum of two hours of the work day/shift are between these hours for the employee to receive all the rights regarding night shift, for all of the hours worked in continuity with the two hours (the two hours can be at the beginning, end or middle of the work day.
So what does it mean that this work day is considered “night shift” ?
The law does not specify any special value for night shift work.
The only thing that the law specifies is that night shift work “will not exceed a seven hour work-day.” (section 2 B of the law)
There is a court ruling that any compensation for night work remains a topic for negotiations between the employee (or a trade union) and the employer, the same way that the law does not intervene in the hourly rate to be paid to employees (with exception of course to minimum wages)
The effect of the shortening of the work day to seven hours for night work is:
1) That from the 8th hour and onwards, the employee is entitled to overtime pay (125% for the first 2 hours and 150% for each additional hour). However there are restrictions on overtime for night work. In certain sectors these restrictions do not apply: (for example: Medical staff, Electric company, Hotels, Guard duty and more)
2) When configuring the employee’s hourly rate the number of hours taken into account for the calculation will be the number of hours in a regular work day and not the number of hours of night shift (7).
The information contained here is not legal advise, nor is intended to be, but it is to give a better understanding of the law, in general. There may be a collective or sectorial agreement which binds your employer, please check before you conclude that the above is applicable to your situation.
