Holidays are explicitly defined in the labor laws:
2 days Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, 2 days Sukkot, 2 days Pesach, Shavuot and Yom Ha’atzmaut.
Monthly employees are entitled to payment for the Holidays that occur during the month for which payroll is paid, since their base pay is monthly based (set). Such employees receive their regular pay and are not entitled to additional pay for the Holidays.
Employees who receive a daily rate (or hourly rate or contractual employees) are entitled to payment for Holidays, provided that they worked at least 3 months at the place of employment and that they were not absent from work the day before and the day following the Holiday, except with the employer’s permission (for example: all employees were on forced collective vacation because the place of employment was closed during pesach)
Non-Jewish employees: The employer is not liable to pay non-Jewish employees for Jewish Holidays in addition to the Holidays of his/her faith. In this case the employee must choose whether to receive payment for Jewish Holidays or Holidays of his/her faith.
Erev Chag – In work places where the work week is 6 days, work on Erev Chag is 7 hours (payment is for 9 hours- full day) and in places where the work week is 5 days, work on Erev Chag is 8 hours (payment is for 9 hours- full day).
Hol-Hamoed: There are no directives in the law with regard to Hol-Hamoed or the payment for work on these days. As far as the law is concerned, these are regular, normal work days. This is of course unless there is a collective agreement at the place of work which specifies differntly,or if it is specifically mentioned in an employee’s work contract.
This directive commenced by power of the comprehensive mandatory order about shortening the work week to 43 hours, which went into effect on July 1, 2000 and applies to all employees and employers in the State of Israel.
Moshe Egel-Tal, CSPP
Founder and CEO, Israpay "making payroll simple"
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