Annual Leave in Israel: Employee Rights and Entitlements (2026)

This page is the detailed guide to annual vacation. For how vacation fits with sick days, public holidays and convalescence pay, see the overview of paid leave entitlements in Israel.

1. The statutory framework: Annual Leave Law 5711-1951

The Annual Leave Law sets a minimum that applies to all employees, full-time and part-time, monthly and hourly. The last change to the seniority scale was Amendment 15 (2016). It raised the entitlement for the first years in two steps: by one day from July 1, 2016 and by another from January 1, 2017. The current scale has applied since January 1, 2017.

Three other sources can give you more than the statute, never less:

• Your personal employment contract. Technology companies and multinationals commonly give 18 to 25 working days from the first year.
• Collective agreements (heskemim kibbutziyim) in sectors such as banking, the public sector and large utilities.
• Extension orders (tzavei harchava), which apply collective terms to a whole sector or to the entire private sector. The general extension order on the shortened five-day work week sets its own working-day figures. Where it gives more than the statute, the higher number applies.

The right to leave cannot be waived. A contract clause giving fewer days than the statute does not bind you, and failing to grant leave or pay vacation money is a criminal offense under Section 28, on top of the civil claim.

2. How Many Days Are You Entitled To?

Seniority is counted in work years, and the law defines a work year as the calendar year from January 1. Section 3(a) sets the length of leave in calendar days. Only one weekly rest day is counted for every seven days of leave, so the number of working days you are actually away depends on your work week:

The calendar-day column is the statute itself. The working-day columns are the standard payroll conversions. For seniority above five years, check whether the shortened-work-week extension order or your sector's collective agreement gives a higher working-day figure. Employees under 18 get a longer minimum (18 calendar days) under the Youth Employment Law; see youth employment in Israel.

Many websites still show the pre-2016 scale (14 days for years 1–4 and 10 working days on a five-day week). That scale is out of date. Since 2017 the minimum for a full year on a five-day week is 12 working days.

3. Partial Years and Vacation Pay

The 200-day and 240-day rules. Under Section 3(b), if you were employed for the whole calendar year and actually worked at least 200 days, you get the full entitlement. If you worked fewer than 200 days, you get a proportional share (days worked divided by 200). If you started or left during the year, Section 3(c) uses 240 days instead of 200. Fractions of a day are dropped.

Days that are not charged as vacation. Section 5 lists days that do not count toward your vacation even if they fall inside it: reserve duty, public holidays on which you do not work, the maternity and parenting period, days of illness or accident, mourning days, strike or lockout days, and notice-period days beyond the first 14. If one of these falls in the middle of your vacation, the vacation is suspended for those days and should be completed later in the same year. If you fall ill during a vacation, get a medical certificate and ask for those days to be recorded as sick days; see sick leave rights in Israel.

Vacation pay. Under Section 10, vacation pay equals your regular wage. A monthly-paid employee simply keeps receiving the normal monthly salary while on leave. For hourly or daily workers, a vacation day is worth the average daily wage, calculated as the wages for the quarter before the leave divided by 90 (or, where that quarter was not a full one, the fullest quarter in the previous 12 months, at the employee's choice). "Wage" for this purpose means pay for regular working hours. Reimbursement of expenses you do not have while on leave, such as travel, is excluded.

Short-term daily and hourly workers. A worker paid by the hour or day who works fewer than 75 consecutive days for the same employer, and has no written contract for a longer period, is not covered by the regular scale. Instead the employer must pay vacation compensation of at least 4% of wages (Sections 4 and 15).

4. Taking Your Annual Leave

When. Section 6 says vacation is to be given in the last month of the work year it relates to, or during the following year. In practice the employer sets the dates, ideally after consulting the employee. You do not have an absolute right to take vacation on the dates you request.

Two days of your choice. Section 6(b) gives you two exceptions to the employer's control. You may take one vacation day on any date you choose, and one more day from the list in the law's schedule, provided you notify your employer at least 30 days in advance. The list includes Jewish fast days and holiday eves, Christian, Muslim, Druze and Samaritan holidays, Sigd, International Women's Day, May 1, Holocaust Remembrance Day and Memorial Day, and the anniversary of the death of a close relative. A recent amendment (Amendment 17) extended that last item to the anniversary of the death of any close relative (parent, spouse, child or sibling); previously it covered only relatives of fallen soldiers and victims of terror.

Splitting the leave. Under Section 8 the leave is meant to be continuous. It can be split by agreement (and with the workers' committee's approval where there is one), provided one part lasts at least seven days. In practice most Israeli employers allow single days to be taken freely, which is lawful because it is done by agreement.

Notice. Under Section 9 the start date of a vacation of seven days or more must be fixed at least 14 days in advance. Shorter blocks have no statutory notice requirement.

No working elsewhere. Section 12 says an employee who does regular paid work during their vacation loses the vacation pay for those days.

5. Carry-Forward and Accumulated Leave

The default rule in Section 7 is that leave cannot be accumulated. The exception: with the employer's consent, you may take at least seven days in a year and add the balance to your leave for the next two work years. A balance carried for longer than that is not protected by the statute itself.

In practice many employers allow larger balances, often up to a cap set in the contract or company policy, and simply pay out the balance on exit. Three points matter:

• Read your contract and policy. If the employer's written policy caps the balance, unused days above the cap may be lost unless the employer prevented you from taking them.
• Limitation period. Section 31 sets a three-year limitation period for any claim under the law. In practice, a claim for vacation redemption on exit is generally limited to the leave of the last three years plus the current year.
• Check your payslip. The payslip rules under the Wage Protection Law 5718-1958 require the payslip to show your vacation balance. If it is missing or does not match your own count, raise it in writing while you are still employed.

6. Payout When Employment Ends

Section 13 requires vacation redemption (pidyon chufsha) whenever an employee stops working before taking all the leave due to them, whether by resignation, dismissal, or the end of a fixed-term contract. The amount equals the vacation pay you would have received had you gone on leave on your last day, so it is calculated at your final wage, not the wage when the days were earned. Under Section 17 the payment counts as wages for all legal purposes, which means late payment can trigger wage-delay compensation under the Wage Protection Law.

A notice period counts as employment. If you are dismissed with notice, the employer can ask you to use vacation days during the notice period, but Section 5(a)(7) means only notice days beyond the first 14 can be charged as vacation. For notice rules, see notice period in Israel.

Before you sign a release letter (ktav vitur), check that the final payslip shows the vacation balance and the redemption amount. A signed release does not always bar a later claim, but it makes one harder. See release letters in Israeli employment.

7. Foreign Workers and Expats: Specific Considerations

The Annual Leave Law is protective legislation, and it applies to anyone employed in Israel regardless of citizenship, visa type, or the law named in the contract. This covers B/1 foreign workers in construction, agriculture and caregiving, olim, and expats hired locally. A US- or UK-law contract that gives fewer days than the Israeli minimum is overridden for work performed in Israel.

• Foreign workers on B/1 permits. They get the same scale, the same Section 6(b) days (the schedule includes Christian, Muslim and other religious holidays), and redemption on leaving the job or the country. Many foreign workers receive their final payments, including vacation redemption, together with the deposit fund (pikadon) on departure. See foreign worker rights in Israel and the foreign worker deposit.
• Live-in caregivers. Caregivers also get annual leave under the same law. The practical questions, such as how days are counted for a six-day live-in arrangement, are covered in foreign caregivers in Israel.
• Seconded employees. If you are employed by a foreign company and only seconded to Israel, whether the Israeli law applies can depend on who your employer is and how long you stay. In practice, make sure your total leave package is at least the Israeli minimum for the period you work here.
• New immigrants. Seniority starts again with each new employer. Years with a previous employer, in Israel or abroad, do not count unless your contract says so.

A worker who has left Israel can still sue in the Regional Labor Court through an Israeli lawyer acting under a power of attorney, within the three-year limitation period. Complaints about unpaid vacation can also go to the Ministry of Labor's enforcement unit. See labor court disputes in Israel.

8. Company Shutdowns and Public Holidays

Many Israeli employers close for a week around Passover or Sukkot, or for a summer week, and charge those days to annual leave. Because the employer controls vacation timing, this is generally lawful if done with proper notice: at least 14 days for a block of seven days or more under Section 9.

• Holidays are not vacation days. Under Section 5(a)(2), public holidays on which you do not work are not counted as vacation days. Only the working days of the closure (for example the intermediate days of Passover) can be charged to your balance.
• Insufficient balance. If you have not accrued enough days to cover a shutdown, the employer cannot simply impose unpaid leave without your agreement. Common solutions are an advance against next year's leave or paid leave. Agree on it in writing.
• Non-Jewish employees. Under the Hours of Work and Rest Law 5711-1951, non-Jewish employees are entitled to rest on their own religion's holidays. If they are made to use vacation days during a closure on Jewish holidays, they can ask to take their own holidays as well. See Shabbat and holiday work in Israel.