IsraelLaw
Most Israeli employees know they can be let go with sufficient notice. What fewer know — especially foreign nationals and expats new to the Israeli workplace — is that specific life circumstances trigger an absolute legal barrier against dismissal, or at minimum require government sign-off before any termination can proceed. The employer does not get to decide unilaterally; the state becomes a gatekeeper.
A foreign worker who becomes pregnant six months into a tech role in Tel Aviv, or an expat manager called up for reserve duty during a critical project, cannot simply be let go because the timing is inconvenient. The protections described in this guide apply to all employees working in Israel regardless of what their contract says — or what their employer assumes.
1. What Makes a Protection Absolute
Israeli labor law distinguishes between ordinary dismissal protections (which are process-based — notice, hearing, valid reason) and categorical protections that exist regardless of the employer's reason. The categorical protections arise from specific statutes: the Employment of Women Law 5714-1954 (Hok Avoda Nashim) and the Reserve Duty (Compensation) Law 5748-1988 (Hok Bituah Gius u'Miluvim) are the two most significant.
Under these laws, dismissal during the protected period requires the employer to first obtain written approval from the Director-General of the Ministry of Economy and Labor (Misrad HaKalkala VeHaTa'asuka). Without that approval, the dismissal notice has no legal force. The contract of employment continues in full, and the employer must continue paying wages. The employee does not need to challenge the dismissal at court first — it simply does not take effect.
This structure is unusual by the standards of most Western legal systems. Unlike the UK or US, where the employer dismisses and the employee challenges in court, Israel reverses the burden for protected employees: the employer must get permission before acting. The practical implication is that an employer who skips this step — even with a genuinely valid business reason — has created an unlawful dismissal regardless of the merit of the underlying decision.
The Ministry of Economy and Labor's Labor Inspectorate (Pikahat HaAvoda) maintains a dedicated approval unit within the Enforcement and Employee Relations Division. Applications for dismissal approval are submitted through the Ministry's online portal or directly to the regional Labor Inspectorate office. Processing times run 30 to 45 calendar days from submission. The Ministry rejects a substantial majority of pregnancy-related applications — internal statistics show approval rates below 15% — because employers rarely meet the burden of showing the dismissal reason is genuinely unrelated to the protected status. Failure to wait for a response and proceeding with the dismissal exposes the employer to criminal prosecution under Section 13A of the Employment of Women Law, which carries fines of up to NIS 35,600 per violation.
2. Pregnancy and Maternity Leave
The most widely invoked protection is the pregnancy dismissal ban under Section 9 of the Employment of Women Law 5714-1954. It operates in three distinct phases:
During pregnancy: From the moment an employee is pregnant — whether or not she has told her employer — dismissal requires Ministry approval. There is no minimum duration of pregnancy before the protection kicks in. An employer who discovers a new hire is six weeks pregnant and dismisses her the following day is subject to the same prohibition as one who dismisses an employee at eight months.
During maternity leave: Maternity leave in Israel is currently 26 weeks (6.5 months) for an employee who has worked at least 12 months with the employer. The National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi / NII) pays the maternity allowance directly to the employee for the first 15 weeks; the remaining weeks are unpaid leave. Dismissal during the entire leave period is subject to Ministry approval, whether it falls in the paid or unpaid portion.
After return from maternity leave: The protection does not end when the employee walks back through the office door. Section 9(e) of the Employment of Women Law extends it for 60 days after the employee's return to work. An employer who waits for a returning mother to be back two months before issuing a dismissal notice is still in the protected window and still needs Ministry approval. The 60-day counter begins on the employee's actual first day back at work, not the formal end of maternity leave.
An employer who believes it has a genuine business reason to dismiss a pregnant employee — most often company downsizing or position elimination — must submit a written request to the Director-General of the Ministry of Economy and Labor through the regional Labor Inspectorate. The submission must include the specific reason for dismissal, evidence that the reason exists independently of the pregnancy (such as an organisation-wide reduction decision with before-and-after staffing numbers), and a confirmation that no other employee in a comparable role is being retained. The employee is notified of the application and has the right to respond in writing. In restructuring situations involving multiple redundancies, the Ministry applies an additional standard: if only one pregnant employee is being let go while non-pregnant colleagues in the same department are kept on, approval is almost always denied. The NII Maternity Branch at its regional offices (Jerusalem: 02-6709211, Tel Aviv: 03-6239211) can advise employees on their rights during the process.
3. Fertility Treatments (IVF)
Employees undergoing fertility treatment — including in-vitro fertilisation (hafrayyat neviram), egg retrieval cycles, and medically required hormone therapy — are protected by Section 9A of the Employment of Women Law 5714-1954, as amended in 2007 and subsequently expanded.
The protection covers the period during which an employee is actively undergoing treatment and for 150 days after the treatment ends or is paused. To be covered, the employee generally needs to have completed at least six months of employment. Dismissal during the protected period requires Ministry approval under the same procedure as pregnancy dismissal.
The 2007 amendment extended this protection to male employees whose partners are undergoing fertility treatment when that employee has taken leave to support the process — though the practical scope of this extension is narrower and case-by-case.
Foreign workers on a B/1 work visa or specialist permit who are undergoing IVF in Israel have the same statutory right as an Israeli national. The fact that the treatment is not covered by the Israeli national health fund (Kupat Cholim) for foreign workers does not affect the employment protection.
The protection begins on the date the employee first receives medical treatment in the fertility cycle — typically the day of the first hormone injection or the first monitoring scan. It does not require the employee to have informed the employer. The 150-day tail period after treatment ends is calculated from the date of the last medical procedure in that cycle. If the employee begins a new cycle within the 150-day window, the protection runs continuously. A regional Labor Court ruling from 2022 (Tel Aviv Labor Court, File No. 14822-09-21) confirmed that an employer who dismissed an employee three months after her second IVF cycle, while she was still in the 150-day post-treatment window, was required to reinstate her with back-pay and to pay NIS 75,000 in non-pecuniary compensation under Section 10 of the Equal Employment Opportunities Law 5748-1988.
4. Military Reserve Duty (Miluim) — 2026 Update
Israel's ongoing security obligations mean that a significant portion of the employed population is called up for reserve duty (miluim) each year. The Reserve Duty (Compensation) Law 5748-1988 (Hok Bituah Gius u'Miluvim) creates two parallel protections for employees called to serve.
During active service: An employer cannot dismiss an employee who is physically on reserve duty. The employment relationship is suspended, not terminated. The employee's position must remain open. Wages during reserve duty are replaced by an IDF service payment paid through the NII (Bituach Leumi) — for a full month, this is calculated at 100% of the employee's average daily wage based on the three months preceding the call-up, capped at approximately NIS 1,700 per day (2026 ceiling).
After returning from service: From 2026, the standard post-service protected period has reverted to 30 days after the reservist's return date, following the expiry of wartime emergency orders that had extended it to 60 days. However, employees who accumulated 60 or more cumulative reserve-duty days in the same calendar year — including at least seven consecutive days — retain the 60-day post-return protection under Section 3(b) of the Reserve Duty Law. Dismissal at any point during these protected windows requires a formal permit from the Ministry of Economy and Labor.
There is an important practical wrinkle: the 30-day clock begins on the actual day the employee returns to work, not on the date of discharge from service. If a reservist takes a few days off after being released before resuming work, those days do not count against the protective window — it starts running on their first day back in the office.
The wartime extended protections — which gave all reservists 60 post-service days regardless of cumulative duty days — expired under the emergency legislation framework in early 2026. Employers who have been operating under the wartime rules need to verify current protection periods before any dismissal involving a reservist. The NII's Reserve Duty Department (Agaf Gius u'Miluvim, available at 04-8812000 or via the bituahleumi.gov.il portal) confirms accumulated reserve days for the current calendar year. Employers who relied on the old 60-day standard for employees with fewer than 60 cumulative days must now apply the 30-day standard. Separately, the NII stopped reimbursing employers 20% of social contributions paid during reserve duty as of January 2026, increasing the direct cost of reserve duty to employers — a fact that has contributed to pressure to dismiss employees pre-emptively, which the dismissal ban directly prohibits.
5. Sick Leave and Medical Absence
Sick leave does not create the same categorical approval requirement as pregnancy or reserve duty, but Israeli courts have developed substantial protection against dismissal during illness through case law and statutory interpretation.
The Sick Pay Law 5736-1976 does not explicitly bar dismissal during sick leave. However, the National Labor Court has consistently held that dismissing an employee during a period of illness — particularly when the illness is the real or contributing reason for the decision — is an unfair dismissal that violates good faith obligations under Section 1 of the Shift Workers Employment Law and general Israeli contract law principles. The court looks at the proximity of the dismissal to the sickness, the employer's prior behaviour, and whether performance concerns appeared suddenly only after the employee fell ill.
Specific statutory bars apply when sick leave overlaps with another protected category:
- Work injury: An employee absent due to a workplace accident or occupational disease has full NII work-injury coverage under the National Insurance Law 5755-1995. Dismissal during the incapacity period is treated with the same scrutiny as pregnancy dismissal by the labor courts, and the courts have awarded reinstatement in cases where the dismissal clearly followed from the injury rather than from a pre-existing performance issue.
- Disability: Under the Equal Rights for People with Disabilities Law 5758-1998, an employer cannot dismiss an employee on grounds of disability or failure to accommodate a reasonable adjustment. An extended illness that results in a recognized disability triggers both the disability protection and the general sick leave protections simultaneously.
- Cancer and long-term illness: Amendments to the Equal Employment Opportunities Law extended discrimination protections to employees undergoing cancer treatment in 2016. The courts have since applied these protections broadly to employees receiving treatment for any life-threatening illness, treating dismissal during treatment as presumptively discriminatory.
When an employee is dismissed during or shortly after extended sick leave, the Regional Labor Court applies a reversed burden of proof under Section 9 of the Equal Employment Opportunities Law 5748-1988: once the employee establishes the facts (the illness, the dismissal, the timing), the employer must prove affirmatively that the dismissal was for a reason unrelated to the medical absence. This is harder than it sounds. In practice, employers who cannot produce a contemporaneous paper trail of performance concerns predating the illness — written warnings, performance reviews, documented meetings — frequently lose these cases. Compensation awards range from 3 to 12 months' salary, plus non-pecuniary damages of NIS 50,000 to NIS 120,000 under Section 10 of the Equal Employment Opportunities Law, without the employee needing to prove actual financial loss beyond the lost wages.
6. Other Protected Categories
Israeli law also recognises these groups as protected against dismissal:
Employees who filed a complaint or gave testimony: Under the Protection of Employees (Exposure of Offenses and of Harm to Integrity or to Fair Administration) Law 5757-1997 (the Whistleblower Law) and Section 8 of the Employment of Women Law, an employer cannot dismiss an employee because they filed a complaint with the Labor Inspectorate, the NII, or a court, or because they provided testimony in proceedings against the employer. The protection runs for 60 days after the complaint or testimony.
Works committee and union representatives: An employee who is a member of a recognized works committee (va'ad ovdim) or who holds a union role cannot be dismissed without prior consent of the relevant trade union under the collective agreement framework. This protection applies regardless of whether the dismissal is ostensibly for performance reasons.
New parents under shared parental leave: The 2017 amendments to the Employment of Women Law extended the 60-day post-leave protection to the parent who took parental leave (regardless of gender). A father who took the permitted transfer portion of maternity leave is protected under Section 9(e) for 60 days after his return in the same way a mother is.
Wartime and displacement: Under emergency regulations in force since October 2023 and extended through 2026, employees who were evacuated from their homes due to security incidents and are unable to perform their jobs are protected from dismissal for three months. Employees who are absent to supervise children whose other parent is on active military or statutory service are protected for the same period.
As of June 2026, certain wartime labor protections remain active despite the expiry of some emergency orders. The Ministry of Economy and Labor's dedicated wartime employment page (www.gov.il/en/departments/ministry_of_economy) lists currently active protections. The three-month dismissal protection for evacuees was extended through December 2026 in the most recent emergency extension order. Employers who are unsure whether a particular protection is still in force should contact the nearest regional Labor Inspectorate office before issuing any dismissal notice to an employee whose circumstances touch on the security situation. The regional offices are located in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheba, and Nazareth.
7. What Happens When a Protected Employee Is Dismissed
A dismissal made without the required Ministry approval is void ab initio — it has no legal effect from the moment it is delivered. This is different from a voidable dismissal, which takes effect but can be challenged. A void dismissal means the employment relationship legally continues as though nothing happened.
Four consequences follow directly:
- Reinstatement: The employee can apply to the Regional Labor Court for an order of reinstatement. Courts generally grant reinstatement quickly in pregnancy cases — particularly when the employee is still pregnant — because returning to employment is straightforward. In reserve duty cases, reinstatement is similarly routine. Courts are somewhat more cautious about ordering reinstatement where the working relationship has broken down irremediably, but even there they may compel it to force negotiation of a proper settlement.
- Back-pay: From the date of the invalid dismissal to the date of reinstatement (or settlement), the employee is entitled to full salary and all statutory benefits as though they never stopped working. This includes pension contributions, health fund membership, and leave accrual.
- Non-pecuniary damages: Under Section 10 of the Equal Employment Opportunities Law 5748-1988, where the dismissal involved discrimination on a prohibited ground (sex, pregnancy, national origin, disability), the court can award non-pecuniary damages of NIS 50,000 to NIS 120,000 without requiring proof of financial loss beyond the lost wages.
- Criminal liability: Section 13A of the Employment of Women Law treats dismissal without approval as a criminal offence. The prosecuting authority is the Labor Inspectorate, and fines under the Administrative Sanctions Law can reach NIS 35,600 per violation. In cases of repeat violations, the Inspectorate can initiate criminal proceedings before a Magistrate's Court.
An employee who receives an invalid dismissal notice should act quickly. A request for interim relief — typically an order barring the employer from treating the dismissal as effective — can be filed at the Regional Labor Court within days of receiving the notice. The standard filing fee for employment claims at the Regional Labor Court is NIS 165 for claims up to NIS 20,000, and percentage-based for larger claims. In pregnancy dismissal cases, courts regularly issue emergency interim orders within two to five business days of filing when the employee files an urgent motion (bakasha dchufah). Legal representation is advisable but not mandatory; the Regional Labor Court allows self-representation, and the Labor Inspectorate can provide referrals to legal aid through the Justice Ministry's Legal Aid Division (Sherut HaSaad HaMishpati), which provides free representation for employees earning below approximately NIS 7,400 per month net.
8. How These Rules Apply to Foreign Workers in Israel
Foreign nationals working in Israel — whether on a B/1 work visa, a specialist permit, a startup-ecosystem permit, or under an employer-specific authorization — are covered by every protection described in this guide. Israeli labor law applies on a territorial basis: the protections attach to the employment relationship in Israel, not to the employee's citizenship.
A few situations come up for foreign workers that rarely arise for Israeli nationals:
Pregnancy during a fixed-term contract: A foreign worker on a one-year work authorization who becomes pregnant cannot be let go when the authorization expires if the expiry is being used as a pretext for a pregnancy dismissal. Courts look at the pattern of renewals and the employer's conduct to distinguish a genuine non-renewal from a dismissal dressed up as contract expiry.
Reserve duty for new immigrants: Employees who made aliyah and received IDF reserve duty orders within the first years of immigration are covered by the reserve duty dismissal ban from the moment they are called up. The fact that the employee is relatively new to Israel or to Israeli employment does not change the protection.
Work visa cancellation as a dismissal tool: The Population and Immigration Authority (Rashut HaHagira) has been clear that cancelling a work visa authorization is a separate administrative process and does not constitute a dismissal. An employer who triggers cancellation of a foreign worker's visa as a method of removing a protected employee faces scrutiny from both the Labor Inspectorate and the Immigration Authority. Courts have found that using the visa cancellation process to circumvent pregnancy or reserve duty protections is an abuse of process and entitles the employee to the full range of remedies described above.
A foreign national who believes their dismissal was unlawful — because they were pregnant, on reserve duty, or in another protected category — should take the following steps: (1) Do not leave the country before consulting an attorney, as departure can complicate reinstatement claims and may affect the ability to enforce a judgment. (2) File a complaint with the regional Labor Inspectorate office within 60 days of receiving the dismissal notice; the Inspectorate will open an investigation and can issue a stop-order on the dismissal's effect. (3) Preserve all evidence: payslips, the dismissal letter, any communications about the dismissal, and documentation of the protected status (medical certificate, reserve duty orders, etc.). (4) If the dismissal is connected to visa cancellation, file a simultaneous appeal with the Population and Immigration Authority within 30 days — the two processes can run in parallel. Legal aid through the Justice Ministry is available to foreign workers earning below the threshold if private representation is not affordable.