What are the Israeli legal requirements for a mass layoff?

Israeli law imposes no statutory cap on the number of employees a company may reduce — collective dismissal is permitted when economically or operationally justified. The key obligation is procedural: the 45-day advance notice to the Employment Service must specify the number of affected employees, their job categories, and the economic or structural reason for the reduction. The Employment Service may use this window to facilitate alternative employment or retraining and may invite the employer to a hearing, but it has no power to block the dismissals on economic grounds. The notice requirement applies to the total number of dismissals within any rolling 90-day window, so an employer who dismisses 5 employees in January and a further 5 in March — within 90 days — crosses the threshold and must give 45 days' notice before the second tranche. For a detailed overview of Israeli employment law applicable to foreign-owned companies and their employees, see the full guide.

Foreign-owned companies and companies with employees on work visas face additional obligations in a collective redundancy. B-1 work visa holders who are dismissed must be notified under both the labor law framework and the Foreign Workers Law 5751-1991 — the employer must notify the Population and Immigration Authority within 10 days of the end of each affected employee's employment. Employees with protected status cannot be dismissed without committee approval even in a genuine redundancy: pregnant employees and those on maternity or parental leave, employees within 60 days of returning from such leave, and employees who served military reserve duty within the preceding 30 days all require the approval of the Industrial Tribunal (Beit Davar*) or relevant authority before dismissal. Dismissing a protected employee as part of a restructuring without obtaining that approval exposes the company to reinstatement orders and damages of at least 6 months' salary under the Equal Employment Opportunities Law 5748-1988.