State of Israel
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor
Foreign Workers Department
Rights and obligations
of foreign workers in the field of construction
Below are the special conditions that bind foreign workers employed in construction.
These conditions are in addition to the conditions binding foreign workers in general in the general Handbook of Foreign Workers’ Rights which it is attached to this handbook.
1. Legal employment
Foreign workers may only be employed in the field of construction by means of a number of manpower companies that specialize solely in employing foreign workers in construction.
The list of these manpower companies is available on the website of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor: (www.moital.gov.il).
Please note: You are prohibited from being employed directly by the building contractors and you are prohibited from being employed by contractors or group leaders who are foreigners like you.
If it is found that your employment was not arranged by a licensed manpower company - this may adversely affect your visa and lead to your immediate deportation from Israel.
A manpower company cannot obtain approval to register you in its name if you are already registered for employment with another manpower company and the conditions for canceling your registration with that manpower company have not been met.
If you have concerns about the existence of this situation, you must immediately inform the Head of Section in charge of Foreign Worker Rights, at telephone number 03-5125460 or 050-6240546.
Transfer between employers
From the moment you receive a visa to stay in Israel for the purpose of employment with a particular manpower company, that manpower company undertakes to employ you during the entire first year of your stay in Israel.
However, you may transfer from one manpower company to another, even during the first year of your employment in Israel.
You may transfer once each quarter (in other words, from January 1st, from April 1st, from July 1st and from October 1st of each year).
If you wish to terminate your employment relations with the previous manpower company and terminate your contractual engagement with it, you must provide the manpower company with prior written notification to that effect in accordance with Israeli law. (In contrast to the calculation mentioned in the general Handbook, in the field of construction notification must be given several days in advance with the calculation as follows: during the first year of employment - one day for each month in which you were an employee of the manpower company. In the second year - 14 days +1 day of warning for every two months of employment. In the third year - 21 days +1 day of warning for every two months of employment, and beginning with the fourth year - advance notice of one month).
If you cannot prove that the manpower company received this notification, you are liable to lose, from your last month’s salary, the number of days for which you should have given prior written notification, as stated above.
Please note: Before you begin working for a new manpower company during a new quarter, you must ascertain that all the following conditions have been fulfilled:
· You have received a copy of your employment contract with the manpower company.
· You have obtained medical insurance.
· A bank account has been arranged for you and the manpower company is aware of the account details so that monies due to you can be transferred to that bank account.
Please note: The bank account must be a personal account in your name and no entity other than you has the right to withdraw monies from the account or to give the bank instructions regarding what to do with your monies in the account.
· You have received all the contact details of an employee of the manpower company, who speaks a language that you understand and who will serve as your contact with the manpower company at all times and whom you can contact with complaints and any time that you need help. The document must contain this person's full name, address, and the telephone numbers at which you can contact him each day.
Please note: You can change your mind and sign a document to the effect that you wish to work for a different manpower company and not the one that you first selected. However, the moment you sign an employment contract with a manpower company, you can only cancel your engagement with that manpower company by means of an employment relations termination letter as mentioned above and, in any case, your last signature on an employment contract with a manpower company before the beginning of a new quarter is the one that will bind you. You will not be able to change your mind after the quarter has begun.
Please note: No entity may interfere with your decision to transfer to a new manpower company at the beginning of a new quarter.
If, nevertheless, any entity attempts to interfere in any manner whatsoever to prevent you from transferring, you must report this immediately to the Head of Section in charge of Foreign Worker Rights, at telephone number: 03-5125460 or 050-6240546.
However, from the start of the new quarter to the end of that quarter, you will not be able to transfer from one manpower company to another unless one of the following two events occurs:
a. You have the written consent of the manpower company in which you are employed, as well as the consent of the new manpower company, for the transfer.
b. An instruction has been issued by the Head of Section in charge of Foreign Worker Rights to the effect that you can transfer to another manpower company. (Generally, such a decision results from the conclusion that a complaint you submitted against the manpower company from which you wish to transfer is serious and justified and therefore it is reasonable to give you the possibility of transferring to another manpower company, even before the end of the quarter).
Please note: At the end of each quarter, you will be able to terminate employment relations with the manpower company with which you are registered after you provide it with prior notification, even if you do not yet know of a new manpower company that wishes to a employ you. In such a case, you must submit to the Ministry of the Interior the letter proving termination of your work relations with the manpower company and then you will receive a tourist visa (B2) for 30 days. During those 30 days, you may not work in Israel (and if you violate this provision, you may be deported immediately), however, during that period you may seek a manpower company that is prepared to employ you in construction work (you will not be able to find an employer to employ you in a field other than construction!). If, at the end of 30 days, you do not find a new employer, you will be required to leave Israel immediately.
Termination of employment relations by the manpower company
The manpower company may also initiate termination of employment relations.
Please note: During the first year of your stay in Israel, the manpower company is prohibited from dismissing you at its own initiative.
Please note: If the manpower company initiates termination of the employment relations, it must give you a letter of prior notification in a language that you understand, at least a month before the anticipated date of termination of the employment (after the first year, this period lengthens in accordance with the provisions of Israeli law).
If you have received such notification and you wish to appeal it, you may do so, among other things, by contacting the Head of Section in charge of Foreign Worker Rights at telephone number: 03-5125460 or 050-6240546.
If you have received such notification, and you do not have another manpower company that is prepared to employ you, you can contact the Ministry of the Interior, as stated above.
Collection of money for brokerage between you and an employer for which you can work in construction
If you have been required to pay higher amounts than those stated in the General Handbook, to any entity in Israel, you must also report this immediately to the Head of Section in charge of Foreign Worker Rights at telephone number: 03-5125460 or 050-6240546.
2. Salary
For your work in construction, you are entitled, at the very least, to the minimum wage set forth in Israeli law, which is calculated according to the hours that you actually worked.
According to the procedure, the salary (and also the advance payments on account of the salary and any other payment that the manpower company pays you for your work) must be paid solely into your bank account, and not in cash.
According to law, the manpower company and the building contractor at the site at which you work must keep precise records of your work hours each day. Each day, you must sign it and certify this record of your hours. This time sheet will be recorded in Hebrew and in a language that you understand.
Each month, the manpower company must give you a copy of the time sheet according to which your salary is calculated for that month.
If, in a certain month, you have been absent from work for any reason (for example: due to illness or due to a planned vacation), you must certify, by your signature on the above time sheet, your absence and the reason for your absence.
Please note: The manpower company for which you work (and any other entity) is prohibited from collecting from you any commission or consideration whatsoever for services supplied to you for the purpose of your employment for that manpower company.
Please note: Every month, you must receive a salary slip from the manpower company, which itemizes all the payments paid to you that month and all the deductions from your salary. The salary slip must also contain details of the manpower company that pays you your salary (the employer with which you signed the employment contract) and other details relevant to your work for the manpower company, as required by law). If you do not receive a salary slip on a regular basis, this is a violation of the law.
3. Prohibition on taking any measures against you that prevent you from exercising your rights under the law and as specified in this handbook of rights.
There is an absolute and comprehensive prohibition on preventing you, in any manner, from exercising your rights according to the law and according to this handbook of rights.
If you believe that any measures whatsoever have been taken against you that threaten you or prevent you from exercising your rights, you must inform the Head of Section in charge of Foreign Worker Rights immediately, at telephone number 03-5125460 or 050-6240546.
4. Deposit
According to law, each month the manpower company that employs you must allocate an amount that is updated from time to time and now stands at NIS 700 (aside from the amount paid in the first month and the last month of your employment with that manpower company (then the amount of the deposit allocated for your benefit is proportional to the number of work days in the month).
This amount is deposited in Bank Massad by means of the Payment Administration (MATASH) in an account managed in your name.
Before the start of your employment with the manpower company, you will be required to fill out details with regard to the deposit and, among other things, to give instructions regarding to person to whom the money is to be transferred in the event of your death before the date on which you are ordinarily entitled to receive the money.
The deposit monies accumulate in your account in Bank Massad each and every month, until the date of termination of your visa for working in Israel.
The money is used for severance pay and as an incentive at the conclusion of your employment in Israel and at the time you leave the country.
The manpower company is prohibited from deducting this amount from the salary due to you.
The money will be transferred to your bank account in your own country only after the processes for your departure from Israel are completed.
The deposit monies can also be redeemed before your 5 year visa has elapsed, provided that you declare that you do not intend to return to work in Israel and that you are leaving it forever, and only after the processes for your departure from Israel are completed.
In order to allow payment of the full amount, you will be asked to give notice about a month before the expected date of termination of your visa. At that time, you will be asked to fill out the form that is attached to this Handbook of Rights and to sign it before the competent entity named therein. A copy of your airplane ticket must be attached to the form.
Two weeks after the date of submission of the form to the Payment Administration (MATASH), the Payment Administration (MATASH) will send you a document with the calculation of the deposit that will be transferred to you at the time of your departure from Israel.
If you wish to appeal what is stated in this document, you can do so by contacting the Payment Administration (MATASH) (through the offices of the manpower company for which you are working at that time) or through the Head of Section in charge of Foreign Worker Rights, at telephone number: 03-5125460 or 050-6240546.
For your information: At the time of payment, 15% income tax will be deducted from the amount of the deposit that is due to you.
For your information: If you do not leave Israel at the time that your visa expires, and if you do not provide a justifiable reason for staying in Israel beyond the expiration of your visa, the amount of the deposit to which you are entitled will be gradually reduced until, 6 months from the date on which you should have departed but did not, you will not be entitled to receive any monies from your deposit.
5. Any document that you will be required to sign in Israel must be in a language that you understand
It is strictly prohibited to have you sign any document that you do not understand or to whose contents you do not agree.
You must be given a copy of any document that you have been asked to sign. You should safeguard this copy as proof of the agreements that you signed in Israel.
6. The building contractor that employs you is also subject to the obligation to verify that the manpower company for which you are working is fulfilling its obligations
If one of your rights, as stated in this handbook of rights, is violated by the manpower company for which you are working, you will be able to demand its fulfillment by means of written notification that should be sent to both the manpower company and the building contractor that employs you. You will also be able to claim fulfillment in the Labor Court in the area in which you are employed or in which you reside (for that purpose, we recommend that you obtain legal advice from a lawyer).
If the obligation towards you is not fulfilled, despite your proof that the manpower company and the building contractor received the letter, you can also demand that the building constructor uphold the obligation.