June 5, 2011
Mirit Reif, Adv.
Most of us are educated to believe that we can have it all if we only apply ourselves. We can have the perfect home, the relaxed well behaved kids and the perfect satisfying job. In pursuit of this challenging goal, we find ourselves being plunged into the complex world of "Working Mothers". The goal of this short article is to give you, the working woman, a basic summary of some of the rights Israeli women have at work. It is brief and not meant to replace any legal advice that might be needed on any particular case.
So let us begin….
Income tax
As opposed to other countries which grant their residents deductions reducing the taxable income, Israel grants personal tax credits called points ("Nekudot Zikui"), that reduce the amount of tax due regardless to the income you have. Currently, each point is worth NIS 209. Israeli residents are entitled to such points according to their marital status and the number of kids they have; for example a married woman with 2 kids or a single parent with one kid are both entitled each to 4.75 points. A married woman with 3 kids is entitled to 6.25 points.
Sick days
Women can take off up to 8 sick days a year for their children and single mothers have 16 sick days. There is a substantial amount of additional days for children who have a fatal illness (can reach up to 90 days). A spouse can take off up to 7 days for pregnancy treatments / checkups of his wife.
Fertility treatments
If you are going through a series of fertility treatments you are entitled to be absent from work. The amount of entitled days varies according to the number of days you work per week. The days will be counted as sick days. During this time your employer cannot fire you unless she receives special permission from the supervisor of women's law in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor Office.
Pregnancy
You need to notify your employer that you are pregnant once you reach your fifth month of pregnancy, after that the employer is not allowed to change your terms or conditions (salary, position) of work. The law prohibits an employer from dismissing a pregnant worker as long as she has worked at the work place for at least 6 months unless the employer received special permission from the supervisor of women's law in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor Office. This will only be given in special occasions mostly when the supervisor is convinced that the dismissal has nothing to do with the pregnancy. If you did not work for 6 consecutive months in the same workplace you still might have a chance of fighting the dismissal through the Equal Job Opportunity Law. On that same, note your employer cannot dismiss you during your maternity leave and 60 days after coming back to work. But you can decide to resign from your job up to 9 months from giving birth in order to take care of your baby and that will be considered as if you were fired and will entitle you to compensation ("פיצויי פיטורין").
During pregnancy you are entitled to be absent from work for medical tests relating to the pregnancy without the hours of such absence being taken off from your salary. The amount of hours depends on how many hours you work per day (4 hours or less for a full 5 day work week).
Maternity leave
If you worked at the same working place for at least a year prior to the start of your maternity leave, you are entitled to take maternity leave of 26 weeks. It should be noted that only the first 14 weeks are paid leave, the extra time is unpaid leave and will not be counted towards other social rights which accrue by law over time. If you worked less than a year you will be entitled to take off the number of months equal to 1/4 of the months you were employed prior to the maternity leave. (For example, if you worked only for 8 months in a workplace you will be entitled to two months maternity leave). From 6 weeks after birth of the child, the husband can substitute his wife and take the rest of the maternity leave instead of his wife if they choose to do so.
If you had twins or more you are allowed to lengthen the leave for up to 3 weeks for every additional child. Couples who adopt are entitled to the same maternity rights.
During the maternity leave the parent who is taking the leave cannot be employed elsewhere. Women are allowed to take 7 weeks or less of this period prior to the birth and the rest afterwards.
Resignation
If you get fired you are entitled to be given written notice in advance, the amount of notification vary and depend on the amount of time you were employed in the work place, if it was full or part time, and also what is written in your contract. The same amount of notice applies if you decide to resign (in which case you have to notify the employer).
In addition you are entitled to a hearing where the employer explains her reasons for firing you and giving you the opportunity to try and persuade her otherwise.
Any worker is entitled to compensation when being dismissed if they worked in the same place for at least 12 months. (Sometimes one can obtain the right to receive compensation even if only worked for 11 months. They will need to prove that they were fired so close to the 12 month deadline in order to avoid the employer from paying) The amount of money that one is entitled to is calculated according to the period of work . For every year, one is entitled to one month salary as compensation. There are a number of reasons that by law even though one resigns by choice, it is considered as if she was fired and will entitle her to compensation. The list is long, but a few examples are: resignation in order to care of an infant up to the age of 9 months and resignation as a result of relocation after marriage to a location at least 40 km further from the current place of living.
The national insurance institute in Israel grants women all sorts of rights (visit site) , among many others, are birth grant and risk pregnancy benefits and it is worth checking out.
Last but not least… Women and business
More and more we see that women are being encouraged to become active participants in the business world, this is being done by changes made in the Israeli Law making regulations that make sure women have representation in various fields.
There are many courses offered to women who want to become independent and open their own business. This also includes "coaching" and / or being mentored by a business consultant. This help is offered through Partnership 2000 and also by MATI Business Development Center and is offered at discounted prices or might be obtained free of charge if the woman meets certain criteria (such as low income). It is well worth seeking their assistance especially at the beginning.
Women have come far and are a crucial part of the workforce and yet still even today in the 21st century, we still have among us some who do not appreciate the significant impact women make in the workforce:
Two weeks ago, Mr. Simon Murray, the chairman of Glencore,a mining and trading giant, located in, Switzerland, was condemned for making ''unacceptable'' sexist remarks about women when being interviewed for the "Sunday Telegraph" a newspaper in England. His views included suggesting women's capacity in the workplace was limited because “pregnant ladies have nine months off”, women “have a tendency not to be so involved quite often” and are not “so ambitious in business”.
In the newspaper interview, Mr Murray was quoted as saying: ''Do you think that means that when I rush out, what I'm absolutely desperate to have is young women who are about to get married in my company, and that I really need them on board because I know they're going to get pregnant and they're going to go off for nine months?''
Of course this was heavily criticizedand Mr Murray has apologized for his comments, saying he is ''100 per cent committed to equal opportunities in the boardroom and across a company's structure, be they private or public''.
I would like to end with some positive statistics- according to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor 76.9% of women are now working compared to 79.7% of men, women make a third of the supervisors in the Israeli economy, while 47% of the academic force, half of the judges and most of the Israeli students are women! Although women in the workplace are still not equal to men the gaps between the genders are definitely reducing…
Mirit Reif is an attorney in the Bet Shemesh branch of Hacohen Wolf Law Offices. She can be reached at 02-9999235. Hacohen Wolf is a law firm specializing in Real Estate, Taxation and Commercial Law with offices in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Tel-Aviv and New York.