Quick Answer: The Advance Notice for Dismissal and Resignation Law 5761-2001 (Chok HeModia Mukdam Lefitour Uve'Hitpater) sets minimum notice periods for all employees and employers in Israel, including foreign nationals. An employer dismissing a monthly employee must give between 1 day (during the first month) and 30 days (from month 13 onwards). An employee resigning must give between 1 day and 14 days. Either party can waive the other's notice period only by paying full salary for it in lieu. Employment contracts may extend these minimums but cannot reduce them. The law applies to foreign workers on B/1 visas, expats on local contracts, and employees of foreign companies who work in Israel.

When an employment relationship in Israel ends, two questions arise immediately: how much notice must be given, and what happens if the notice is not given or not worked? These are not details to work out during the stress of a dismissal or resignation. The answer depends on how long the employee has worked, how they are paid, and which side is ending the employment.

For foreign workers and expats, the rules are often unfamiliar. In many common-law jurisdictions, notice is whatever the contract says. In Israel, the law sets a mandatory floor that every contract must meet. A clause reducing notice below the statutory minimum is void regardless of whether both parties signed it. A clause giving more notice than the statutory minimum is valid and enforceable.

1. The Advance Notice Law 5761-2001

The Advance Notice for Dismissal and Resignation Law replaced older provisions in the Work and Rest Hours Law and introduced a single unified statute governing minimum notice across most of the private sector. It came into force in June 2001 and has not been significantly amended since.

The law distinguishes between two categories of workers: those paid a monthly salary (*schar chodeshy*) and those paid a daily or hourly rate (*schar yomi*). The notice scales are different for each group. Most expats and foreign professionals working in Israel's tech, pharma, and financial sectors are monthly workers. Foreign workers in construction, caregiving, and agriculture are more commonly daily or hourly workers.

The law applies from the employee's first day of work. The notice obligation exists during the probationary period just as it does after it. Israeli law does not have a separate "probationary notice" rule — the Advance Notice Law table applies throughout. The employer still has full discretion to dismiss during a probationary period without giving grounds, but must still give the statutory notice or pay salary in lieu.

Collective agreements (*heskemim kolektivim*) and extension orders (*tzavei harchava*) that apply to specific sectors or employers may require longer notice periods. Where they do, the collective agreement governs and the statutory minimum is the floor. Foreign employers without Israeli legal counsel sometimes miss this: the collective agreement for Israel's tech sector, for example, imposes different conditions in some areas that affect notice calculation.

2. Notice Periods for Employers: How Much Notice Before Dismissal

Under Section 3 of the Advance Notice Law, an employer dismissing a monthly employee must give the following minimum notice:

  • During the first month — 1 day per day of employment worked. An employee dismissed on their 10th day of work is owed 10 days' notice. An employee dismissed on their 28th day is owed 28 days' notice.
  • During the 2nd month — 14 days plus 1 day for each additional week of employment completed since the start of month 2.
  • During the 3rd month — 21 days plus 1 day for each additional week completed since the start of month 3.
  • From the 4th month through the 6th month — The notice period during this phase equals the number of completed months, multiplied by 2.5. Effectively: 10 days in month 4, 12.5 days in month 5, 15 days in month 6.
  • Months 7 through 12 (year 1) — 21 days' notice through the 7th month, rising to 30 days as the first year nears completion.
  • From month 13 onwards — 30 days (1 calendar month).

The practical outcome is that once an employee completes their first year, any dismissal requires 30 full days of advance notice, regardless of how many years they have worked. Tenure beyond year one does not increase the notice period for monthly workers under the statute. It may increase it under a collective agreement or an individual employment contract that expressly grants longer notice for longer service.

For daily and hourly workers, the scale under Section 4 of the law is shorter and rises more slowly, reaching 14 days for employees with between one and three years of service, and not exceeding 21 days for employees with more than three years. Many foreign workers employed in construction, domestic work, and agriculture fall into this category.

In Practice: An employer dismissing a monthly employee after 18 months of employment owes 30 days' advance notice under Section 3(b)(4) of the Advance Notice Law. If the employer wants the employee to stop working immediately — for example, because the employee has access to sensitive client information — the employer must pay 30 days' gross salary in lieu of notice, on top of all other separation entitlements (severance, accrued leave, pension contributions). The Ministry of Economy and Labor's Employment Service (Lishkat HaTa'asuka) treats failure to pay notice-period salary as a wage debt, enforceable before the Regional Labor Court in Tel Aviv (Derech Petach Tikva 100), Haifa (HaNassi Blvd. 15), or Beersheba (Jabotinsky 92). The limitation period for notice-period salary claims is 7 years under Section 6 of the Prescription Law 5718-1958.

3. Notice Periods for Employees: How Much Notice Before Resignation

Under Section 3 of the Advance Notice Law, a monthly employee who resigns owes the employer the following minimum notice:

  • During the first month — 1 day per day of employment worked (same as dismissal).
  • During months 2 and 3 — The same escalating scale as dismissal applies: 14 days at the start of month 2, plus an additional day per completed week from there.
  • Months 4 through 6 — The same calculation as dismissal: approximately 10 to 15 days.
  • From month 7 onwards — The notice period for resignation is capped at 14 days, not 30. This is the key difference between dismissal notice and resignation notice in Israel. Once an employee passes their sixth month, they owe 14 days' notice when resigning, regardless of how many years they have worked.

The asymmetry matters. An employer dismissing a year-one-plus employee owes 30 days. An employee resigning at any point past month 6 owes only 14 days. This is not a drafting error in the law — it is intentional, reflecting a policy choice that workers should not be trapped in employment as easily as employers can require them to stay.

An employment contract can increase the resignation notice obligation above the statutory 14 days, and many senior employment contracts in Israel do this. Contracts specifying 30 or 60 days' mutual notice are valid and enforceable. The key word is "mutual": a contract that requires the employee to give 60 days' notice but allows the employer to dismiss with only 30 days is enforceable as written — there is no statutory mutuality requirement — but the Regional Labor Court will look carefully at such clauses when the employee claims they are oppressive.

In Practice: A foreign tech worker who has been with an Israeli startup for three years resigns by email on August 1. Under Section 3 of the Advance Notice Law, they owe 14 days' notice. Their last working day is therefore August 15 (assuming August 1 is day one of the notice period). If their employment contract says "30 days' notice for resignation," that contractual term governs and their last day is August 31. If the employer wants them to stop working immediately — because they are going to a direct competitor — the employer can waive the resignation notice period, but this releases the employee from any work obligation without reducing their entitlement to salary through the notice date. The salary for the full notice period is earned simply by the employee having given valid notice, not by working through it.

4. Pay in Lieu of Notice

Either party can waive the other's obligation to physically work during the notice period. In practice this means:

Employer waiving employee's notice: An employer who dismisses an employee and tells them to leave immediately (or who wants them to stop working for any reason before the notice period expires) must pay the employee full gross salary for the entire remaining notice period. This payment is called *pitzui batzad hoda'a mukdemet* or simply "payment in lieu of notice." It is not severance pay and does not affect the severance pay calculation. It is simply the monetary equivalent of the notice period the employee was entitled to work.

Employee waiving their own notice: An employee who wants to stop working before the notice period they owe the employer expires can ask the employer to release them early. If the employer agrees, the employment ends on that earlier date and neither party owes anything further on account of notice. If the employer does not agree, the employee who leaves before the notice period expires is in breach of contract. The employer can then deduct the unworked portion of notice from the employee's final pay — but only up to the value of the unworked notice days, not as an additional penalty. The Regional Labor Court has consistently held that unilateral deductions beyond the actual notice period value violate the Wage Protection Law 5718-1958.

Pay in lieu is calculated on the employee's regular monthly salary, including fixed monthly components that are part of the base compensation. Variable elements such as commissions, bonuses, and expense reimbursements are generally excluded unless the employment contract specifies they are part of the base for this purpose. Employers sometimes try to exclude global overtime allowances from the pay-in-lieu calculation; courts have varied on whether standard global overtime is included depending on how it was structured.

In Practice: A monthly employee earning NIS 22,000 gross per month is dismissed after 3 years and told to clear their desk the same day. The employer owes 30 days' pay in lieu of notice, which equals one full month's salary: NIS 22,000 gross. This is paid as part of the final payslip, subject to standard income tax withholding and National Insurance contributions (Bituach Leumi) at the same rates as regular salary — notice period pay is not exempt from tax or NII deductions. The Bituach Leumi employer contribution (approximately 3.45% to 7.6% depending on salary band) is also due on the pay-in-lieu amount. Failure to pay the full notice amount on time is a breach of the Wage Protection Law, which carries criminal liability for the employer's authorizing officers under Section 26 of that Law and entitles the employee to interest and CPI linkage under the Adjudication of Interest and Linkage Law 5721-1961.

5. Garden Leave in Israel

Garden leave (*chufsha nogaat*) is the arrangement where an employee works out their notice period at home, drawing full salary, while not required to attend the workplace or perform any duties. The employer continues paying salary but the employee is effectively suspended from their role during the notice period.

Israeli law does not explicitly regulate garden leave by that name, but the Regional Labor Court has consistently enforced it as a contractual arrangement in employment agreements that include a garden leave clause. The mechanics under Israeli law are:

  • The employer gives valid statutory notice of dismissal.
  • The employer simultaneously notifies the employee they are on garden leave and need not come to work.
  • Full salary continues throughout the notice period.
  • The employee may not commence employment with a new employer during this period without the current employer's written consent. Starting a new job during paid notice constitutes a conflict of interest and may give the employer grounds to terminate for cause — which would eliminate severance rights.
  • The employee continues to accrue annual leave and social benefits (pension contributions, convalescence pay) throughout the garden leave period.

Garden leave is most common in technology, finance, and sales roles where the employee has access to confidential client relationships or commercially sensitive projects. For foreign workers in Israel's startup ecosystem, it is worth checking whether the employment contract includes such a clause before signing.

In Practice: A senior sales director at an Israeli SaaS company resigns to join a direct competitor. Their employment contract includes a 30-day mutual notice period and a garden leave clause. The employer invokes garden leave on day one of the notice period. The employee receives full NIS 35,000 monthly salary for the 30-day garden leave period and may not start at the competitor until the 30th day ends. The employer also has an active non-compete clause (a separate legal issue governed by the Restraint of Trade principles developed by the National Labor Court — see our guide on Non-Compete Agreements in Israel). The garden leave period and the non-compete period run concurrently, not consecutively, unless the contract explicitly says otherwise. Foreign employers drafting Israeli employment contracts frequently make the mistake of assuming these two mechanisms stack — they do not by default.

6. Special Rules and Protected Groups

The notice period calculation interacts with certain protected statuses in ways that often surprise both employees and employers.

Pregnant employees and recent mothers. The Equal Employment Opportunities Law 5748-1988 and the Employment of Women Law 5714-1954 bar an employer from dismissing a pregnant employee or a mother within 60 days of returning from maternity leave without advance written approval from the Minister of Economy and Labor. If an employer gives notice of dismissal to an employee who is pregnant or protected under these provisions, the notice is void. The dismissal cannot proceed until the Ministry approves it, and the notice period does not begin to run until that approval is obtained. This does not mean the employee cannot be dismissed — it means the process is suspended and subject to ministerial oversight.

Employees on sick leave. An employer cannot give notice of dismissal while the employee is absent due to illness if the absence is within the permitted sick leave entitlement under the Sick Pay Law 5736-1976. More precisely: notice given during sick leave is considered void, and the notice clock does not begin to run until the employee returns to work. This rule has been developed extensively by the National Labor Court. Employers who give notice while the employee is on sick leave often discover that the dismissal date they assumed has been pushed back by the duration of the sick leave.

Employees on reserve duty (*miluim*). Section 27 of the Defense Service Law 5746-1986 bars dismissal of an employee serving in the Israel Defense Forces reserves during reserve duty and for 30 days after it ends. Notice given during miluim is void. If an employee receives a notice of dismissal while on reserve duty, they can challenge it and the notice period will not be treated as having started.

Employees with disabilities. An employer who dismisses an employee with a recognized disability must give 45 days' advance notice under Section 8 of the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities Law 5758-1998, rather than the 30 days the Advance Notice Law would otherwise require. The longer period applies regardless of the employee's actual tenure if they have a recognized disability status at the time of dismissal.

Employees during IVF treatment. The Employment of Women Law 5714-1954 was amended to protect employees undergoing in-vitro fertilization treatments. Dismissal during the protection period requires advance Ministerial approval under the same mechanism as pregnancy protection. This is a detail often overlooked by foreign employers unfamiliar with Israeli employment law.

In Practice: An employer in Herzliya gives a software developer their notice of dismissal on March 1. On March 3, the employee presents a medical certificate confirming pregnancy. Under the Employment of Women Law 5714-1954, the notice given on March 1 is retrospectively void. The employer must immediately withdraw the notice, obtain permission from the Ministry of Economy and Labor's Employment Service before recommencing any dismissal process, and pay the employee's salary through the withdrawal. The employer who refuses and simply assumes the notice stands will be exposed to an unfair dismissal claim before the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court at Derech Petach Tikva 100 — with possible compensation of up to 150 days' salary plus legal costs under Section 9 of the Equal Employment Opportunities Law.

7. When the Notice Period Law Is Violated

If an employer dismisses an employee without giving any notice and without paying in lieu of notice, the employee has a debt claim for notice period pay. This is a wage claim, not a damages claim. It is calculated as the employee's regular monthly salary for the notice period they were owed, prorated if applicable.

The employee files the claim before the Regional Labor Court with jurisdiction over their place of work. The claim is straightforward and does not require proof of any harm — the entitlement arises automatically from the failure to give notice. Claims are subject to a 7-year limitation period from the date the employment ended under the Prescription Law 5718-1958.

If an employee resigns without working out their notice period and without the employer's agreement to release them early, the employer can deduct the monetary equivalent of the unworked notice days from the employee's final pay. The employer cannot deduct more than the value of the unworked days. Deducting above that amount, or deducting other items that the law does not permit, violates Section 25 of the Wage Protection Law 5718-1958 and is recoverable by the employee before the Labor Court.

There is one situation where violation of notice rights interacts with the right to unemployment benefits. An employee who resigns without working out their notice obligation and without obtaining the employer's release may be treated by the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi) as having voluntarily resigned, which reduces or eliminates their entitlement to unemployment benefits for a qualifying period. The Bituach Leumi Regional Branch offices assess each case individually. Foreign workers eligible for Israeli unemployment benefits should be careful about how their departure is characterised.

In Practice: A B/1 foreign worker employed at a Tel Aviv logistics company for two years is dismissed on June 1 with no notice and final pay issued that same day, with no payment in lieu of notice. Under the Advance Notice Law, they were owed 30 days' notice or 30 days' pay in lieu. Their monthly salary is NIS 18,000 gross. The employer owes NIS 18,000 in unpaid notice pay. The employee files a claim at the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court under the expedited small-claims procedure for employment claims under NIS 38,700. The court issues a judgment typically within 2 to 4 months. The Execution Office (Hotzaa LaPoal) can then enforce the judgment against the employer's bank accounts. If the B/1 worker is from outside Israel and has already returned home, they can still pursue the claim through a lawyer in Israel under a power of attorney — the Regional Labor Court does not require the employee to be physically present in Israel to maintain the claim.

8. Rules for Foreign Employers

A foreign company employing staff in Israel — whether through a local entity, a registered branch, an employer of record, or directly — is bound by the Advance Notice Law from the first day of employment. The notice obligations apply regardless of which country's law governs the employment contract or where the employer is incorporated.

This catches many foreign employers off guard, particularly when they issue termination notices formatted for their home country's rules. A US company that emails an Israeli-based employee a "30 days' notice" letter and then stops payroll on day 30 has complied with Israeli law on that point (assuming the employee has more than one year's tenure). But a British employer that issues a US-style "2 weeks' notice" to a year-one-plus employee has paid 16 days less than the law requires and owes the difference.

Foreign employers using employer-of-record (EOR) or professional employer organisation (PEO) arrangements should confirm with their EOR provider that the termination process follows the Israeli statute, not the EOR's home-country defaults. The Israeli EOR is the legal employer and is responsible for compliance, but the foreign client company often manages the relationship day to day and may trigger a termination in a way that puts the EOR in breach without realising it.

One practical point: Israeli courts will treat the notice period obligation as running concurrently with any contractual non-solicitation or IP-handover obligations that the employer imposes during the exit process. An employer who insists on a 60-day handover, but the contract only provides 30-day notice, cannot extend the employment relationship beyond the 30-day statutory period without the employee's consent and continued salary payment.

In Practice: A German GmbH operating an Israeli R&D subsidiary through a registered branch at the Israel Companies Registrar (Rasham HaChavarot, Jerusalem) dismisses a senior engineer with 4 years' service. The dismissal letter, drafted in German, gives "4 weeks' notice" as would be standard in Germany. Under the Advance Notice Law, the engineer is owed 30 calendar days (not 4 working weeks, which is 20 days). The employer owes the additional 10 days' salary as notice pay. If the engineer also has a collective agreement entitlement under the collective agreement for Israel's engineering sector, the period may be longer still. Foreign companies operating Israeli branches should have their standard termination templates reviewed by Israeli employment counsel before using them — the cost of a template review is typically NIS 3,000 to 6,000 and is far less than a Regional Labor Court judgment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. The notice period — whether worked or paid in lieu — counts as part of the employment period for all statutory entitlements including severance pay under the Severance Pay Law 5723-1963. If an employee is dismissed after exactly 12 months and is paid 30 days' notice in lieu, the total period of employment for severance purposes is 13 months (12 months worked plus 1 month notice period). Employers sometimes attempt to exclude the notice period from the severance calculation, arguing the employee did not "work" during that time. The Regional Labor Court consistently rejects this argument: the notice period is treated as worked time for all statutory purposes.

No. Section 5 of the Advance Notice Law explicitly states that any contractual term that gives the employee fewer rights than the law provides is void to the extent of the discrepancy. The statutory notice periods are a mandatory floor. A clause in your contract that says "7 days' notice from either side" is enforceable as to its 7-day term only when the statutory notice would otherwise be shorter than 7 days (i.e., in the very first weeks of employment). From the point that the statutory notice period exceeds 7 days, the statutory period controls and the contractual clause is simply overridden. You do not need to challenge or void the clause — the law does it automatically.

Yes. The Advance Notice Law makes no distinction based on nationality or visa status. A B/1 work permit holder employed on a monthly salary for two years is owed the same 30 days' notice (or pay in lieu) as an Israeli citizen in the same role. The Foreign Workers Law 5751-1991 specifically requires that foreign workers receive all the employment rights granted to Israeli workers, and the Ministry of Economy and Labor's enforcement unit, the Labour Inspectorate, applies this principle in practice. There is one important caveat: if the B/1 permit is employer-specific and the employment ends, the worker's right to stay and work in Israel also ends. The notice period gives legal employment status for 30 days, but a new work permit must be obtained with a new employer if the worker wants to remain in Israel after that.

Israeli law does not set a separate shorter notice period during probation. The Advance Notice Law's table applies from day one. During the first month of employment, the notice obligation is 1 day per day worked — which means a very new employee gets very short notice, and this is not a probationary exception but simply how the table works at low tenure. If an employment contract says "no notice required during a 3-month probationary period," that clause is void. The statutory notice must still be given or paid regardless of any probationary clause. That said, the employer's reasons for dismissal during probation are rarely challenged — the employer does not need to give a reason for ending employment during a trial period, only the legally required notice.

Under Israeli contract law and Labor Court practice, written notice of resignation takes effect when it reaches the employer, not when it is sent. In practice, with email, this is almost always the same day. The notice period begins the day after receipt. A resignation email sent on August 1 to which the employer has confirmed receipt on August 1 starts a 14-day notice period running from August 2, with the last working day on August 15 (if we count August 2 as day one). Where there is no confirmation, the date of sending is treated as the effective date for notification purposes unless the employer can show they did not receive it. Sending the resignation letter by recorded delivery or through a lawyer's office guarantees a clear record of the delivery date.

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