Can an Israeli employer dismiss an employee for trying to organize a union?

Sections 33H to 33I of the Collective Agreements Law protect the act of organizing itself. They prohibit an employer from preventing an employee joining or being active in a workers' organization, from making employment conditional on staying out of one, and from harming an employee because of organizing activity. A parallel duty requires the employer to give the organization's representative reasonable access to the workplace during an organizing drive. The National Labor Court reads these provisions broadly, treating dismissals, transfers, sudden performance criticism and the withdrawal of benefits during a drive as suspect. The employer must then produce a documented, contemporaneous reason that has nothing to do with the union.

Foreign employees at Israeli companies are covered on identical terms, because Israeli labor law attaches to the place of work rather than to nationality. Two features change the practical calculation. First, the Labor Court hears urgent applications quickly and will restrain a dismissal from taking effect while the claim is heard, which is far less common in ordinary Israeli civil litigation. Second, reinstatement is a realistic remedy in organizing cases, unlike most wrongful termination claims where compensation is the standard outcome. Keep dated records of the organizing activity, of which managers knew about it and when, and of the sequence of events that followed.

From the full guide: Trade Unions and Collective Agreements in Israel: What Foreign Workers Need to Know

← Browse all Q&A