Rosh Hashana Bonus Pay

Besides the really cool desk calendar I saw in my Google Reader (pictured above), I saw some interesting labor law questions from datafax.co.il (although the website is not working for me.)

Since this year Rosh Hashana falls out on Thursday and Friday, most people have an extra day off from work (namely Thursday, because Friday is usually a day off anyway, see my earlier post on that here.)

Does a worker get paid for Thursday, even though it is a holiday?

A worker who gets paid monthly would still get his normal pay even though he is working one day less during the month. A worker who is paid a daily wage however will only get paid for Thursday if he has been employment at the same place for the last three months and as long as he works the day before and after (Sunday?) the holiday- unless he has permission to miss those days as well. If there is a collective bargaining agreement or other agreement, that may take precedence over these rules.

The Hours of Work and Rest Law states that a work day shall be no longer than 8 hours. (There are exceptions to this rule, of course.) On the day before a holiday, the work day shall be no longer than 7 hours.

Since this year, Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos, does a worker get paid for the holiday anyway?

No. I assume that since the worker never generally gets paid for Shabbos, he does not get holiday pay for this Shabbos.

I will hopefully add more to this page next week.

Have a happy, healthy, and sweet new year everyone!

Big News For Patients: Forgetting Your Magnetic Card at Home Will Not Result in a Denial of Health Services

The JPost had an article that contains an important change for many patients, especially new olim.

'Magnetic card not conditional for service at kupat cholim'  By Judy Siegel-Itzkovich

"Health fund members cannot be forced to show their magnetic cards when seeking basic medical services, medications or first aid, according to Health Ministry deputy director-general Dr. Yoel Lipschitz, who is supervisor of the public health insurers.

Instead, the health fund staffers can request another type of identity card, he said in a statement on Monday.

'For basic medical services, the health fund must not condition presentation of the magnetic card for making a medical appointment.

Appointments cannot be canceled or delayed as a result of not having the card or lead to patients having to wait for long period for an appointment', said Lipschitz."

Prime Minister Reports on President's Travels

Today's post is just a little quirky piece of Israeli law.

I recently saw a public notice in Reshumot, the official gazette for the publication of records and laws in Israel, that made me do a double take. It is a notice "signed" by the Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, notifying the public that the President, Shimon Peres, left the country for 3 days. That's all it says.

Apparently, according to the Basic Law: The President, the Prime Minister must notify us of the President's travels outside the country:

24.(b) The Prime Minister shall publish a notice in Reshumot as to the President's leaving the territory of the State and as to his return.

This is the notice in Hebrew:

הודעה על יציאת נשיא המדינה את גבולות המדינה ועל שובו

לפי חוק–יסוד: נשיא המדינה

בהתאם לסעיף 24(ב) לחוק–יסוד: נשיא המדינה , אני מודיע על יציאת נשיא המדינה את גבולות המדינה ביום ב' באלול התשע"א (1 בספטמבר 2011) ועל שובו ביום ה' באלול התשע"א (4 בספטמבר 2011).

י"ב באלול התשע"א (11 בספטמבר 2011) (חמ 3—1300)

בנימין נתניהו

ראש הממשלה

Now this notice was published on September 26, 2011 even though the President had already returned by September 4th. I guess we just need to be apprised of the President's travels but not for the purposes of knowing his itinerary.

I checked the President's website but didn't see any press release for those dates, so maybe it was a pleasure trip. If you live in another country and met with the President between September 1st and 4th, please let me know.

Netanyahu vows to lower prices with more competition

From JPost National News

By JPOST.COM STAFF

09/19/2011 13:05

PM blames concentration in economy for high cost of living; vows to take action to increase competition without hurting business.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday discussed plans to lower the cost of living in Israel, promising "less concentration and more competition."

The prime minister was joined by Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer in a press conference to present the interim findings of the Committee on Increasing Competitiveness in the Economy.

Netanyahu said that he had commissioned the report more than a year ago when he realized that despite a healthy economy, the cost of living in the country was rising.

The prime minister stated that "competition is not the enemy of the consumer," but rather a lack of competition in the market led to the high cost of goods.

He promised "fair competition" that would not hurt business owners who create jobs and lead the economy.

The committee did thorough and professional work in both studying the subject and giving real solutions. The committee's conclusions will lead to substantive changes in the Israeli economy and to the cancellation of the situation that has prevailed for decades, of involvement and major control by a few groups," Netanyahu stated. He also thanked Finance Ministry Director-General Haim Shani, who chaired the committee, outgoing Prime Minister's Office Director-General Eyal Gabai and all the other members of the committee.

Netanyahu stated that the committee's final report would be issued in three months and passed on to the Knesset.

These steps, along with those of the special committee that I appointed, chaired by Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg, will lead to a genuine revolution in the Israeli economy in favor of the consumer who is groaning under the illogical cost-of-living," he added.

Last month, the prime minister ordered the committee to speed up their work amid cost of living protests, saying the country's priorities were changing.

Israeli Woman Ordered to Pay 200,000 NIS in Damages for Refusing to Accept a Divorce

Israel always is torn between its identity as a modern democratic state and a Jewish/religious state. For example, there is no civil marriage or divorce; all marriage and divorce must go through the religious courts. While the more common scenario is that a husband refuses to grant his wife a divorce or gett and prevents her from getting remarried under Jewish law (such a woman is referred to as an aguna), an article in the JPost reported that in a strange twist, a family court judge recently ordered a woman to pay 25,000 NIS for each year she refused to accept a gett from her estranged husband.  While according to the Torah, a man may divorce his wife without her consent, that practice has been rabbinically proscribed since

"about one thousand years ago, [when] the famous Cherem (a decree under penalty of ban) of Rabbeinu Gershom was instituted, stating that a woman cannot be divorced without her consent. Thus, the 'playing field' was evened. As Rabbeinu Aher states in his famous dictum, 'The Rabbis acted to equalize the woman's power with the man's.' Now, for all practical purposes, neither side in a marital dispute is entitled to a Get unless there exist very specific grounds for one."

(From The New York State Get Bill and its Halachic Ramifications by Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz.)

Rabbi Malinowitz's article seems to say that coercion via a financial penalty imposed by a court on a recalcitrant wife (as well as on a husband) can invalidate the gett. But my understanding of that article is that if the Beit Din has already ruled that there are grounds for divorce and orders the wife to accept the gett then the coercive nature of the monetary fine is mitigated. For a technical discussion of the questions that a Beis Din poses to ensure the woman's consent see this article by Rabbi Chaim Jachter. ***Update: See this article about a man who was fined by the court for not giving his wife a gett. And this article about a law that is under consideration to expedite the process of fining recalcitrant husbands.***

Furthermore, because the prohibition against divorcing one's wife against her will is of rabbinic origin, there is an escape clause. A man can still divorce his wife against her will if he gets one hundred rabbis to agree to create an exception. This is called a Heter Meah Rabbanim. For an article on the misuse of that device see here. The policy of the Beit Din of America is: 

11. The Beth Din of America agrees that Heter Me'ah Rabbanim should be used only in extreme cases, such as severe and irreversible mental illness.

12. The Beth Din of America will not perform a Heter Me'ah Rabbanim without a hashlashas haget - a Get provided for the woman and held in escrow by the Beth Din to be delivered to the woman as soon as she is prepared to accept it. The Beth Din of America will not perform a Heter Me'ah Rabbanim when the woman is prepared to accept a Get.

13. The Beth Din of America believes strongly in the continuing force today of Cherem De'Rabbeinu Gershom which prohibits polygamy. The Beth Din will not permit a man to marry or to date other women  until he has delivered a Get to his wife.

Shocker: Israeli Lawyers Get Paid Less Than Their American Counterparts!!

Below is an infographic showing the salaries of lawyers and jurists in Israel, as of 2009.


The left side of the graphic describes different types of lawyers and the right side has the following statistics. Whereas a top Manhattan attorney can make $1,000/hr., a similar lawyer in Tel Aviv makes $275-600/hr. While a first-year attorney at a top firm in Manhattan makes 52,000 NIS a month ($15,250 at the rate of 3.41 shekels to the dollar), an experienced attorney at a top firm in Tel Aviv makes 40,000 NIS a month ($11,730), in the periphery of the country 11,000 NIS ($3,226), a first-year associate in Tel Aviv makes 16,500 NIS ($4,839) and in the periphery, 6500 NIS ($1,906).


In Israel, there are currently more than 40,000 lawyers making up 0.6% of the population. Most of them are Jewish males and their ranks are growing by 1,500 lawyers every year.


Seventy-one percent of the lawyers work for 4,500 different firms. Eight percent work for the prosecutor's office or serve as in-house counsel at companies or for municipalities. Twenty-one percent work in non-legal fields but still maintain their legal licenses.

Repost from: Isremploy: Practicing Law in Israel

Israemploy - Practicing Law in Israel: by Minna Ferziger Felig- Legal Recruiter
"For olim, making aliyah and living the Zionist dream sometimes clouds the reality that once you land in Israel most of you will need to work. Finding a job is a necessity. The most obvious place to look for a job is in the field that you practiced abroad. If you were a lawyer before and you want to continue practicing law – you can practice here either in a law firm or as a legal advisor in a company or a government office.


Besides practicing as a lawyer, there are other jobs in the market that may touch on the law but don’t require a law license such as patent attorneys, IP management, legal secretaries and paralegals. However, for the purpose of this article I have limited myself to jobs that require a legal education and a law license.


Practicing law in Israel can be similar to your practice abroad. But depending on your area of expertise, it can also be very different. Even if you end up practicing in nearly the same field that you did abroad, however, there are many practical and cultural differences that are important to know before making the transition."