havra’a

Employee’s Rights Handbook

Moshe

The “Employee’s Rights Handbook”

The first comprehensive, English language guide to Israeli payroll.
Whether  you are an employer or an employee, a new oleh or an English speaker who has trouble with the Hebrew terms, this publication is for you!

 

Employees:

Understand the terminology, layout and the Hebrew terms on your payslip

Know your rights

Understand the labor laws

What mandatory things need to be itemized on the payslip?

What are the things you need to know upon termination?

How many vacation days are you entitled to?

Is Purim a paid holiday?

What are the rights of a pregnant employee?

 

Employers:

Do your payslips comply with all the new regulations?

Do you issue employees “notification of terms of employment” as required?

Are employees given a fair hearing prior to termination?

Understand what obligatory payments exist in Israel

What is allowed to be deducted from an employee’s salary?

Is an employee who is on maternity leave allowed to work from home?

Must I pay travel expenses to all employees?

What can and cannot be deducted from an employer’s salary?

Are you aware of penalties for infringement on regulations and labor laws? (avoid this by knowing what needs to be done)

 

In this guide you will find:
* An overview of labor laws, regulations, expanded regulation orders, collective
agreements and statutes

* The make-up of the Israeli payslip

* Social Security

* Health Insurance
* Income tax

* Holiday pay, sick day payment, vacation, overtime payment, bereavement leave,
maternity leave

* Minimum wage

* Youth employment
* Advance notice

  • Tips             And much more!

 

A must for employers and employees alike. Get your copy today! This 107 page publication in hard-copy is not available in stores OR Anywhere else, get your copy today !

Price: 100 sh

For orders please go to: Order Here and fill out your details. You will receive an E-invoice for payment after which your book will be mailed to you. Self pickup is available in Jerusalem: Please state if you are interested in this option.Employee's Rights Handbook

Announcing “Employee’s Rights Handbook” book launch and lectures

Moshe

Book launch and lecture will be held:

In Jerusalem: on May 19th, 2015  19:00  at AACI Jerusalem, The Glassman family center Pierre Keonig st. corner of 2 Poalei Tzedek st., 4th floor (opposite Hadar mall)

In Tel-Aviv: on June 17th, 2015 16:00 at AACI Tel-Aviv, 94 A Allenby st.

 

The “Employee’s Rights Handbook”

The first comprehensive, English language guide to Israeli payroll.
Whether  you are an employer or an employee, a new oleh or an English speaker who has trouble with the Hebrew terms, this publication is for you!

 

Employees:

Understand the terminology, layout and Hebrew on your payslip

Know your rights

Understand the labor laws

What needs to be itemized on the payslip?

What are the things you need to know upon termination?

How many vacation days are you entitled to?

Is Purim a paid holiday?

What are the rights of a pregnant employee?

 

Employers:

Do your payslips comply with all the new regulations?

Do you issue employees “notification of terms of employment” as required?

Are employees given a fair hearing prior to termination?

Understand what obligatory payments exist in Israel

What is allowed to be deducted from an employee’s salary

Are you aware of penalties for infringement on regulations and labor laws? (avoid this by knowing what needs to be done)

 

In this guide you will find:
* An overview of labor laws, regulations, expanded regulation orders, collective
agreements and statutes

* The make-up of the Israeli payslip

* Social Security

* Health Insurance
* Income tax

* Holiday pay, sick day payment, vacation, overtime payment, bereavement leave,
maternity leave

* Minimum wage

* Youth employment
* Advance notice                       And much more!

 

A must for employers and employees alike. Get your copy today! This 107 page publication in hard-copy is not available in stores, on-line orders:

 

http://www.israpay.com/announcing-the-release-date-for-employees-rights-handbook/

Announcing the release date for Employee’s Rights Handbook !!!!

Moshe

Finally, the long awaited Employee’s Rights Book is to be released in Hard copy. The release date is Sunday March 15, 2015

At present, this is the only format. There may be a PDF purchase option at a later date.

The book is 107 pages of vital information for employers, employees and anyone interested in Employee’s rights, labor laws and the makeup of payroll in Israel.

Announcing the first and only English language guide in simple easy to understand language !!!

The Book also contains a dictionary of common Hebrew payroll terms and their English translation, examples of payroll forms, useful contact information, tips and more.

Get your copy today,  and know your rights !

price: 100 sh (including mailing). Optional self-pickup in Jerusalem (85 sh).
Payment via credit card or paypal, use this link:

<a href=”http://www.vcita.com/v/israpay/make_payment?pay_for=Employee’s%20Rights%20Handbook&amount=100″ target=”blank”>pay</a>

or follow the schedule an appointment on the left hand side of the home page of this site.
If you encounter a scheduling error notice, send the following details:
(Name, mailing address, email address, phone/cell number. If you wish that the invoice be made out to a different name than the one you supplied, please state)
to moshe.israpay@gmail.com and An invoice will be emailed to you. When you open the invoice you will have the ability to pay.

Check payments option:  send a check made payable to Moshe Egel-Tal along with the above info to

Israpay
P.O. Box 44429
Jerusalem 9144302

 

 

 

 

Havra’a payment in several installments – at which rate are they paid ?

Moshe

David is a small employer. In order not to raise his monthly payroll costs but at the same time abide by the labor laws, he pays the annual Havra’a payment in 3 installments: in April, June and August. The first two payments were paid at the known rate at the time of payment (previous June’s rate) and the last payment in August employees received the updated new rate.

While employees would rather receive the full amount in one payment, it is the employer’s decision and yes, it is legal. There are some employers who divide the payment into 12 installments thus making their monthly payroll costs even more evened out.

This payment needs to be itemized separately on the payslip and the rate must be updated annually, on the 1st of July each year.

David’s employees signed a petition requesting a retroactive payment for all employees on the rate used to for the first two payments.

So, is David required to pay the difference in the rate for the first two installments to his employees in April and June when the new rate becomes known in July or on August’s installment ?

The answer is no. Since the payment is always according to the last known rate, the employer has fulfilled the wording of the general collective agreement.

New Havra’a rates for 2014

Moshe

The new rates for convalescence pay (dmei havra’a) have been updated as of July 2014 as follows:

Private sector = 378 sh per day

Public sector – 427 sh per day

Payment is mandatory for all employees with min 1 year tenure with the present employee.

The number of days an employee is entitled to depends on the sector and the number of years of tenure they have incurred.

 

Employer who single-sidedly reduced employee’s salary was forced to pay severance pay

Moshe

The employee worked for a gardening company. Upon recieving his last payslip, he discovered that his daily rate had been reduced substantially !

He contacted the employer, demanding that his daily rate be restored to what it was previously, as no-one notified him of any change and he also did not agree to any such change.

The employer refused on several request attempts by the employee, stating that it was a simple “computer mistake” but the bottom line is the same. As a result the employee resigned his position and sued the employer in labor court, demanding his daily rate be restored, as well as severance pay and social benefits from the full rate and not partial from the new, reduced rate, as the employer calculated.

The employer countered, in his response to the court, that the employee resigned his position and as such is not entitled to severance pay. In addition, the employer requested that the employee pay him for failure to give 30 days advance notice.

The court ruled that relevance of section 11a of the severance pay law, which enables an employee to resign his position and still be eligible for severance pay, is upon the employee.

Basically, the employee was able to prove that the employer single-sidedly reduced his wages, by submitting photocopies of his payslips to the court as evidence.

Reducing salary is considered a “worsening of work conditions” that an employee is not expected to continue working under.

The employer stated to the court that after amendment 24 to the “protection of salary” law in 2008, the employer was instructed by his bookkeepers and legal advisors to itemize all payments on the payslips, instead of the one line – “salary” which was used up until then. The employer “fixed” this by lowering the salary rate and adding other mandatory items seperately, such as travel expense and Havra’a. The court ruled that these other items should have been added in addition to the existing pay and not all inclusive, since the item listed was only salary.

The court awarded the employee full severance pay and the employer was instructed to pay the employee the remainder of his salary (restore the original rate) and the social benefits from the full amount, as well as back pay (from his start of employment) for travel and Havra’a.

It pays for employers to configure payslips properly, according to the law, and avoid such scenarios.

Employee’s rights on employer’s bankrupcy

Moshe

The law protecting employee’s rights in bankruptcy or liquidation of a corporation.

The law for security of employee’s rights when an employer goes bankrupt or when a court verdict orders the liquidation of a corporation came into being in 1975, in order to protect employees whose rights have been compromised due to difficulties the employer has come into and as a result of these difficulties a bankruptcy or liquidation order has been issued by a court of law.
This law is defined specifically in Chapter 8 of the Social security law.

According to this law, a salaried employee whose employer has declared bankrupcy or the company he has worked for has been liquidated, is entitled to payment for salary and severance pay that the employer owes him, up to the ceiling of the stipend as determined by the law. The employee is also eligible  that Social security transfer monies owed to his pension or savings plan if the employer has not deposited the required amounts owed (all or some).

 

Who is eligible ?

  1.  Salaried employees that their employer has declared bankruptcy or salaried employees that a court has issued a liquidation order against their employer (provided the employer is a corporation)
  2.  Pension/ Gemel fund if the employer owes money to a fund that the employee is ensured with.
  3.  Member of a co-operative who has been a member of a Kibbutz or a collaborative Moshav for at least 7 years
  4. An employee’s next of kin if an employee passed away before the benefit owed him was paid, his next of kin are eligible to receive the debt for salary and severance pay.
  5. Foreign workers / Yehuda – Shomron workers are eligible provided they have legal and valid work permits and visa. Illegal aliens are not eligible.
Note: An update to this law states that in projects that occurred from Jan 1, 2004 employees with controlling interests in a company are not eligible.

 

Conditions of eligibility

The benefit will be paid to a salaried employee if the following conditions are met:

A) A District court has issued a bankruptcy order or liquidation order to a company, co-operative, collaborative or Non-profit organization.

B) A district court has appointed a Trustee or liquidator to above.

C) The details of the employee’s claim have been acknowledged by the trustee or liquidator of the company.

 

How is the benefit calculated ?

An employee whose employer has been issued a bankruptcy order or liquidation order is eligible to receive a benefit from Social security, which includes amounts of salary owed him, that haven’t been paid by the employer and also amounts of severance pay that have no coverage in a pension / Gemel fund.

The benefit will be paid up to a ceiling of 79,750 sh for court orders issued up until July 31, 2009 or 103,675 sh for orders issued from August 1, 2009 onwards.

The amount of the benefit will include linkage from the date the debt was incurred until the payment date by Social security.

 

Salary items that are taken into account

  1.  Salary: according to section 1 of the protection of salary law that hasn’t been paid by the employer to an employee until the date he ceased work.Itemized salary that will be taken into account include: Base salary, overtime hours, premiums, bonuses, commissions, and any additions that are paid due to effort, or  departmental or professional reasons.The salary to be taken into account will not be less than minimum wage owed the employee according to his percentage of position (full-time, part-time). A benefit that is calculated according to minimum wage will be calculated for a period of up to 12 months.
  2.  Buyout of accrued vacation day balance: payment for the number of accrued and unused vacation days up until the date he ceased work, as they appear on his last pay slip, up to the maximum number of days that can be accrued by law and subject to the Annual vacation law. 
  3. Havra’a (convalesence pay): the part that was not paid to the employer up until the date he ceased work and for the last two years.

  4. Clothing stipend:  the part that was not paid to the employer up until the date he ceased work and for the last year (relevant only in places of employment where this stipend is paid – usually public sector only)
  5. 13th salary: the part that was not paid to the employer up until the date he ceased work and for the last year (relevant only in places of employment where this stipend is paid – usually public sector only)
  6. Value of advance notice: employees whose employer did not pay them the value of advance notice will be eligible to receive as part of the benefit, according to the Advance notice for termination and resignation law (2001).
  7. Employer’s portion towards pension: employees whose employer did not open a pension plan for them as required by law are eligible to claim the employer’s portion of 6% of the base salary and for a period that will not exceed 12 months after employer-employee relations were severed.Note: Any other itemized items on the payslip can be included as well, as long as they fit the definition of salary. Items that will not be included in the calculation of the benefit (for example) refunded car or telephone expenses, etc.
How do I apply for the benefit

The claim for a benefit is to be sent to the court-appointed Trustee or liquidator only and not to Social Security on a form 5305/bl (original only) along with documents to back up the claim. The form is available online on Social Security’s website: www.btl.gov.il or at  Social Security’s Head office in Jerusalem –  branch office (located behind Binyanei Hauma – 13 weizman st. Tel 02-6463020).

The appointed trustee or liquidator has approved the claim he will send it to Social Security’s head office.

Applications for claims relating to pension /gemel funds are to be submitted to the trustee or liquidator by the fund.

 

Tips

  • Always keep a copy of all documents for your own records
  • Never submit original documents, make photocopies of payslips, contract, etc to attach to the claim.
  • Send the claim to the trustee /  liquidator via registered mail with proof of delivery or submit in person and get them to stamp your copy “received” with the date on it.
  • Social Security recommends filling out the claim form in detail and accurately in order to avoid unnecessary delay in processing your claim.

 

Source:  Social Security (Bituach Leumi)

 

 

Calculating Vacation & Havra’a

Moshe

This article was published at the Voleh blog.

Havra’a is a mandatory payment by law. It is paid annually to all employees who have at least one year’s tenure with their current employer. There are several rates (for private and public sector) and they are updated each year in June. Continue reading “Calculating Vacation & Havra’a” →

Everything you wanted to know about Havra’a payment

Moshe

 

Everything you wanted to know about Havra’a payment

Submitted by Moshe on Mon, 30/08/2010 – 23:51

 

What is Havra’a payment ?
Havra’a payment (or convalescence pay) is an annual, mandatory payment effecting all employers in the state of Israel via an expanded regulation order signed by the Minister of Labor. This means it is treated as a law.
Havra’a pay is paid to all employees who have at least one year of tenure with the employer.
Those who don’t are not eligible, but the following year are eligible to receive Havra’a payment for the full year plus the portion of the first year.
The payment is a number of days (see table below) multiplied by the rate (currently 351 shekels), which is updated every June. Employees who work less than full-time positions, it is prorated according to your % of position actually worked (including sick days, vacation, reserve duty and maternity leave).
There are two rates, one for the private sector and another, higher rate for the public sector. There are also separate tables of days of Havra’a eligibility for Histadrut employees, municipal employees and teachers.

Since most of the users of this site are employed in the private sector I have chosen to relate to this only.

Tenure with employer                       Number of Havra’a days
1 year                                                                     5
2-3 years                                                                   6
4 -10 years                                                               7
11-15 years                                                                8
16-19 years                                                                9
20 years and  upwards                                         10

 

Example: an employee who has been employed with the employer for 4 years in the private sector would receive as follows:

7 days * 351 sh = 2,451 sh (gross)

Note: There are employers who prefer to pay Havra’a on a monthly basis instead of a one-time annual payment. This is legal and the result would be an additional payment on each payslip of 1/12 of the Havra’a payment. Of course the amount needs to be updated annually (usually in June or July payroll).

Women who received maternity leave pay may be eligible for more

Moshe

If you meet all the following criteria you are probably owed more money from Social Security.
But, of course they won’t notify you of this.

The criteria are:
1) You gave birth in the last year.
2) You are salary employed.
3) You have returned to work from your maternity leave.
4) You have received an annual payment (on your payslip) since you returned to work.

An annual payment is a payment that is a once a year payment, such as Havra’a stipend, Clothing stipend, Car insurance reimbursement, A yearly bonus or any other once-a-year payment.
These payments are usually withheld during maternity leave since the employee doesn’t get paid, and therefore would be paid immediately upon return from maternity leave.

The process is pretty simple and doesn’t involve much. It may be worth hundreds or thousands of shekels to you.
You need to act soon before a year passes.

You would need to write a letter to your local Social security office stating that you recently returned to work after maternity leave and were paid an annual payment on your payslip and therefore should be eligible for addition stipend for Maternity leave.
It is highly recommended to make a copy of the letter for your records and send it via registered mail or hand-deliver it and get your copy stamped “received” with a date on it at the reception desk.