Can an Israeli employer require an employee to work overtime, and can the employee refuse?

The statute fixes a working day and a working week, then treats everything beyond that as overtime which must be both permitted and paid at a premium. General permits issued under the Law authorize overtime across most industries up to a ceiling of extra hours per day and per week, and the total working day including overtime is itself capped. Work during the weekly rest, which for a Jewish employee runs from Friday afternoon to Saturday night, needs a separate permit and cannot be imposed on an employee who refuses on grounds of religious observance. Enforcement sits with the Regulation and Enforcement Administration at the Ministry of Labor, which can impose financial sanctions on the employer independently of any employee claim.

For a foreign employee the live questions are consent and evidence. Israeli law does not require agreement to each individual overtime shift where the work falls inside the permits and the contract contemplates it, so refusing all overtime outright is risky. The law does require the employer to keep a daily record of hours worked, and where no record exists the Labor Court will accept the employee's account of the hours claimed up to the statutory ceiling. Employees should keep their own log. A demand to work beyond the permitted caps, or persistent unpaid overtime, can amount to a fundamental breach supporting resignation with severance.

From the full guide: Working Hours and Overtime Pay in Israel: A Complete Guide for Foreign Employees

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