Israel Leave Laws & Holidays

Last updated on July 2, 2026..

Paid Time Off (PTO) in Israel

Vacation (Annual Leave) Quota

At least 12 days

Regular employees in Israel are entitled to at least 12 days of paid vacation per year for a standard workweek of 5 days. Employees working a 6-day work week are entitled to 14 days of paid vacation. (For employers who want to follow the accrual rate: Days of vacation leave accrue every month and are determined by the following calculation: base pay divided by 21.67 days per month, then multiplying the result by 10 or 12, depending on the duration of the employee’s workweek.)

Part-time employees can also take advantage of vacation leave benefits, either on a pro-rated basis or at a rate of 70% of full-time wages.

An employee qualifies for vacation leave benefits after 3 months of employment.

Increase in Vacation Days Throughout Years of Service

The exact number of vacation days an employee must receive depends on factors such as their length of service, the period of engagement within each working year, and the number of working days per week.

General guidelines for seniority are:

• During their initial 5 years of employment, employees are entitled to up to 12 days of paid vacation.
• In the sixth year, 14 days.
• In the seventh year, 15 days.

After seven years, employees earn one day of vacation per year of employment, up to a max of 20 days.

Additional Info

A leave during public holidays, due to army reserve military duty, or maternity leave does not count as vacation days. If the vacation days include a weekend, one day of the weekend is counted as part of the vacation.

An employee is required to submit an advance written notice at least 14 days before their absence from work due to vacation leave.

Vacation leave is paid at the normal rate of the employee’s salary.

Carry Over

Allowed, up to 4 years.

Employers must guarantee that all full-time and regular employees take at least 7 days of vacation leave each year.

An employee may carry forward unused days of vacation leave to the next year, and this account must be settled after each three years of service. The law forbids employees from accruing more than four years’ worth of vacation days.

PTO Payout at the Termination

Legally required.

Employees are entitled to receive payment for all unused days of vacation leave from the last 4 years of service upon ending employment.

Sick Leave in Israel

Sick Leave

1.5 days of paid sick leave per month

An employee is entitled to accumulate sick leave of one and a half days per full month of employment, and up to a total maximum of 90 days of sick leave. The entitlement for payment during sick leave is as follows: for the first day of absence the employee is not entitled to any payment; for the second and third days of absence the employee is entitled to receive 50% of the salary he would have received if he had worked on those days; from the fourth day of absence onwards, the employee is entitled to 100% of the salary he would have received had he worked on those days.

Parental Sick Leave

8 days of paid leave per year

Employes are entitled to 8 paid parental sick-leave days a year, in the case of the illness of a child under the age of 16. In the case of a child’s terminal illness, the employee is entitled to 30 sick leave days.

Maternity and Paternity Leave

Maternity Leave in Israel

26 weeks

Employers are required to give eligible pregnant women, a 26-week maternity leave, 15 weeks of fully paid leave and 11 weeks of unpaid leave. A maximum of 7 weeks may be taken by the woman prior to giving birth and the remaining weeks can be taken after the birth. To be eligible, an employee must have worked for the same employer for at least 12 months.

The woman can also choose to take all the maternity leave after the birth. 

If the woman was hospitalized during pregnancy she may extend the leave to up to 16 weeks. If the baby is hospitalized, the maternity leave may be extended to a maximum of four additional weeks.

Payout

Maternity leave in Israel is paid by the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi).

Paternity Leave in Israel

Legally required. The duration depends on combining with maternity leave.

New fathers are entitled to 7 days of paternity leave right after the birth, and the employer is required to pay for the first 5 days.

After this, if both parents agree, a father can share his partner’s maternity leave, taking up to 7 weeks of that paid time off for himself. The prerequisites for such leave are that: the employee’s wife is entitled to maternity leave, she utilized at least six weeks of leave after birth, and she waived her right to the remaining weeks. This part taken by the father is also paid by the National Insurance Institute.

Bereavement Leave in Israel

Up to 7 days.

Employees of any religion are entitled to receive full pay if they were absent from work due to the death of a first-degree relative (parent, child, spouse, or sibling).

The paid mourning period may be up to 7 calendar days.

Eligibility is dependent on the accumulation of seniority of at least 3 months working in the place of employment, excepting certain cases where the entitlement is not dependent on seniority.

Part-time employees are eligible for wages only for the days on which they were to be working and for which they missed work due to the mourning.

Jury Duty Leave in Israel

Jury duty leave is not specified by law, because Israeli legal system does not use juries in courts.

Military Leave in Israel

Legally required.

Reserve service is compulsory by law in Israel, generally until 40 for non-officers, 45 for officers. Peacetime call-ups are limited to 42 days a year but those restrictions were lifted for the emergency call-ups following the outbreak of war on October 7, 2023, involving more than 300,000 reservists for an indefinite period. Reservists are protected from dismissal for 30 days after service.

Payout

Employees are paid by the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi) - employers usually pay the salary and then get reimbursed.

Voting Leave in Israel

Online data is unavailable; please consult official legal materials or offline sources for information.

Public Holidays in Israel

(*) - Dates are determined by the Hebrew calendar.

In addition, applicable law also provides that non-Jewish employees have the right to choose between the Jewish holidays as their days of rest or other days, according to their own religion.

The law provides that those employees who are paid on a monthly basis shall not be entitled to any additional payment for such public holidays, but rather that their regular salary shall not be reduced during months when such holidays occur. In addition, such holidays shall not be deducted from these employees’ entitlement to annual leave. Employees paid on an hourly or daily basis shall be entitled to separate reimbursement for such public holidays, subject to certain conditions.

Sources

1. Local Laws & Regulations, https://www.atlashxm.com/en/countries/israel

2. Payroll and Benefits Guide Israel, https://www.papayaglobal.com/countrypedia/country/israel/

3. Definitive Guide to Hiring in Israel, https://www.globalexpansion.com/countrypedia/Israel

Check out our Leave Laws page to learn more about laws in various countries.