Sick Leave in Israel: Employee Rights, Pay Rules, and Dismissal Protection

1. The Legal Framework

The Sick Pay Law 5736-1976 (Hok Dmei Mahala) sets a minimum that applies to every employer in Israel. Contracts and collective agreements can be more generous, for example full pay from the first day or a higher cap, and the better term then applies. They cannot be less generous.

Related rules you may need:

• Separate laws let you use your own sick days when your child, spouse or parent is ill (section 6 below).
• The Annual Leave Law 5711-1951 keeps documented sick days during a vacation from counting as vacation.
• The National Insurance Law covers work injuries and long-term disability, which sit outside employer sick pay.

2. Who Qualifies

Every employee working in Israel, whatever their nationality or visa: Israeli citizens and residents, new immigrants, B-1 workers in construction and agriculture, expert-visa holders, live-in caregivers, and people working in Israel for a foreign company. Part-time and hourly employees are covered too. Sick days start accruing from the first month of work; there is no qualifying period.

Genuinely self-employed people are not covered. If a "freelance" arrangement is really employment, a labor court can recognize it and award sick pay retroactively.

3. How Sick Days Build Up

• 1.5 days for each full month of work, so 18 days a year.
• Unused days carry forward from year to year up to a 90-day balance. Once you reach 90, you stop accruing until you use some.
• Part-time employees accrue in proportion to their job percentage.
• Unused sick days are not paid out when employment ends, unless a collective agreement or your contract says otherwise.

Your payslip should show your sick-day balance. If it does not, ask payroll for it in writing.

4. How Sick Pay Is Calculated

Day of the illness	Statutory sick pay
Day 1	None
Days 2 and 3	50% of regular pay
Day 4 onward	100% of regular pay, while your balance lasts

The scale restarts with each separate illness, so several one-day absences cost more than one longer absence. Sick pay is based on the regular wage you would have earned for the day; overtime and similar extras are not included.

5. Sick Certificates

Sick pay depends on a certificate confirming that you were unfit to work and for which dates. It does not have to state the diagnosis. There are two routes:

• Short self-reported certificate. Since September 1, 2024, your health fund (kupat holim) can issue a sick certificate based on your own report, without a doctor's visit, for a short illness of up to 4 days within 7 consecutive days. It is limited to 10 days a year and 4 certificates a year.
• Doctor's certificate. For anything longer, or once you have used the self-report allowance, you need a certificate from a doctor. A phone or video consultation with a health-fund doctor is usually enough.

Foreign workers who are not Israeli residents are not members of a health fund. They get certificates through the doctors of the private medical insurance their employer must provide. If you fall ill abroad, a certificate from a local doctor is acceptable, though an employer can question a document that looks unreliable, so send it promptly and keep proof of treatment.

6. Sick Days for a Child, Spouse or Parent

Separate laws let you draw on your own sick-day balance, at the normal sick-pay rates, to care for a family member:

• Sick child: up to 8 days a year (more for a single parent and in some serious-illness situations), generally for a child under 16, if the other parent is not taking those days.
• Sick spouse: up to 6 days a year, where the spouse depends on your help.
• Sick parent: up to 6 days a year, subject to conditions.

Conditions apply in each case, including a medical certificate for the family member and a declaration from you. The dismissal ban in section 8 does not extend to absences to care for a family member.

7. Falling Ill During Annual Leave

Documented sick days during your annual vacation are not counted as vacation days. They are treated as sick days, at the sick-pay rates and drawn from your sick balance, and the vacation days go back into your leave balance.

To rely on this, tell your employer as soon as you can and send a certificate covering the specific dates. A certificate from a doctor abroad is acceptable. Raising the illness only after you return, with no contemporaneous document, invites a dispute. For the rest of the vacation rules, see annual leave in Israel.

8. Dismissal While Sick

Section 4A of the Sick Pay Law prohibits an employer from dismissing an employee during an absence due to illness for which the employee is entitled to sick pay, meaning while they are using their accumulated sick days (up to the 90-day maximum, or more if an agreement gives more). Two main exceptions apply: notice of dismissal given before the illness began, and closure of the business. Where notice was already given, the employment does not end until the paid sick days are used up.

After the paid sick period, dismissal is not automatically unlawful, but other protections apply:

• Hearing: every dismissal requires a prior hearing (shimua). Labor courts have criticized employers who summon an employee to a hearing during sick leave.
• Discrimination: the Employment (Equal Opportunities) Law 5748-1988 prohibits dismissal because of disability, and a court can award compensation without proof of financial loss.
• Money owed on dismissal: severance pay after a year of service, notice or pay in lieu (for a monthly employee, one month after the first year), and payout of unused annual leave. See notice periods in Israel and wrongful termination.

9. Long Illness, Work Injuries and Bituach Leumi

When your sick days run out

Once your balance is used up, the employer's duty to pay sick pay ends. You can continue on unpaid leave, use annual leave by agreement, or rely on private disability insurance. Most Israeli comprehensive pension funds include loss-of-work-capacity insurance that pays a monthly benefit after a waiting period, typically three months, if you cannot work. Check your fund, because this is often the main income source in a long illness.

Bituach Leumi general disability

Israeli residents with a long-term illness may qualify for a general disability pension from Bituach Leumi. Broadly, you must have been unable to work for at least 90 days, have a medical disability of at least 60% (or 40% where one impairment is at least 25%), and have lost at least half of your earning capacity, as assessed by a medical committee. Foreign workers who are not Israeli residents are not covered by this branch.

Work injury

If the illness or injury was caused by work, including many accidents on the way to or from work, it is a work injury, not ordinary sickness. Bituach Leumi pays an injury allowance of 75% of your wage for up to 91 days (13 weeks) of incapacity, and the days are not taken from your sick balance. File the claim (form BL/211) within 12 months. Foreign workers, including non-residents, are insured for work injury. See our work injury claim guide.

Frequently Asked Questions