Holidays

• 26th February – Purim (Jerusalem only)

• 28th February – Shushan Purim (Jerusalem only)

• 23rd March – Public Holiday – Parliament elections

• 28th March – Pesach I – Passover begins

• 3rd April – Pesach VII – Passover ends

• 15th April – Independence Day

• 9th May – Victory Day

• 17th May – Pentecost (Shavout)

• 18th July – Fast of Ninth of Av

• 7th September – Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)

• 8th September – Rosh Hashanah

• 16th September – Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)

• 21st September – Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)

• 29th September – Simchat Torah

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.

PTO

• Vacation/Annual Paid Leave

The amount of annual leave to which an employee is entitled depends upon criteria such as the length of the employee’s service with the employer, the period of employment in each calendar year, and the number of the employee’s working days.

During the first four years of work, employees are entitled to up to 14 days of paid annual leave; in the fifth year – 16 days; sixth year   – 18 days; seventh year – 21 days; more than seven years – an additional day per year to a maximum of 28 days

Absence because of army reserve duty, official holidays, maternity leave, is not considered an annual vacation. When the annual leave includes the weekend, one weekend day is calculated as a part of the annual leave.

• Use-it-or-lose-it policy 

The law prohibits workers from accumulating more than 4 years of annual leave.

• PTO payout at the termination

Upon termination of employment, the employee is entitled to compensation for annual leave not taken in the previous four years.

Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Parental Leave

Maternity Leave

Employers are required to give women, a 12-week paid maternity leave. A maximum of six weeks may be taken by the woman prior to giving birth and the remaining weeks can be taken after the birth. 

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.

Paternity Leave

An employee whose wife gave birth is entitled to use up to six weeks of maternity leave. 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.

Sick Leave, Paid Sick Leave, and Family Care Leave

Sick Leave

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

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.

Jury Duty Leave and Voting Leave (Leave due to Public Interest)

Not specified by law.

Bereavement Leave

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.

Military Leave

Under the law, employees serving on reserve duty must still be paid by their employer. Military service is mandatory in Israel.

Please consult your local legal counsel to learn more about Israel Leave Laws.

To learn more about laws in various countries, check out our Leave Laws page.