Employee Benefits

You can find information in Hebrew on the employee benefits and legal rights that are required by law in Israel at the of employees to the benefits guaranteed by law at the Ministry of Industry and Business site (www.tamas.gov.il). The Israeli The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor also posts "unofficial" English language explanations of Israeli Labor Laws. 

General Overview

The information below is a summary of the benefits as I understand them. However I am neither a lawyer nor an expert on Israeli law. You are responsible for checking this information with an authoritative source.

Vacation Days

During the first 4 years the law mandates 2 weeks. This number goes up gradually and steadily up to 4 weeks.

Vacation has to be coordinated with a manager/supervisor, but an employee is entitled to take a certain number of days consecutively. A company can mandate vacation (e.g., a week in the summer, chol ha'moed, etc.), and an employee can be forced to take vacation even if it will put the employee into a deficit of vacation days. Vacation can be accrued, up to a limit, after which the employee simply loses them. Technically, a company cannot prevent an employee from using vacation time, but practically speaking, it happens, especially to those in managerial positions. However, some companies make provisions for exchanging vacation days for pay.

Havra'ah (Rest and Recovery)

An employee is entitled to Havra'ah pay annually. An employee must be employed for a given period of time before this is applicable (6 months? possibly one year), but it must be paid retroactively. In other words, if companies pay Havra'ah in July, and a new employee begins in February, the new employee will receive nothing the first year, and Havra'ah for a year and five months the second year. The law currently mandates 5 days for the first year, 6 for the second and third, 7 for the fourth, and so on. The current rate listed is 318 NIS per day.

Travel

A company must pay an employee's travel, at the rate of a bus pass. If an employee has a company car, this satisfies the requirement.

It is fairly common for various companies to take some portion of an employees global pay and call it "travel" expenses. Benefits are not paid on this portion. There is a minimum that the employer must pay, but there is also a maximum, such that if an employee moves and chooses to spend large sums of money commuting, the employer's liability is capped.

Bituach Menahalim, Kupat Gemel, and Severence Pay

Bituach menahalim is common to the point of being expected, and as a rule, it consists of some package, often customized somewhat per employee, including future savings (pension component), insurance components (life insurance, ovdan kosher avoda, etc.), and severance pay. Of this, only the severance pay is mandatory, and at that, it only has to be paid for an employee that worked for at least a year.

That having been said, there are very few if any decent companies that do not offer a full bituach menahalim package.

Severance pay must be paid to an employee who is terminated by the employer after at least 12 months of work. Most high-tech companies, whether they write it into an employee's contract or not, will pay out the money or at least some portion of it, regardless of who initiated the termination, provided the employee was not fired for cause (e.g., embezzlement, etc.).

It should, however, be duly noted, that often, if there is no financial reason to withdraw the money immediately, it is important to consider whether the money from severance payments should be withdrawn as soon as it is available, because it is taxable upon withdrawl. As such, it is often best left for the future (when possible), when incomes are lower and changes in financial circumstances lead to lower tax brackets.

The Israeli government publishes the financial results for these plans at http://gemelnet.mof.gov.il/Tsuot/UI/DafMakdim.aspx.

Keren Hishtalmut (Education Fund)

This is pre-tax money deposited on an employees behalf in a non-taxable fund. The common arrangement is the employer contributes 7.5%, and the employee contributes 2.5%. This is not mandatory. Not all companies have this. Most large ones do.

A keren hishtalmut can be withdrawn (tax-free) after 6 years. An interesting note for those who have multiple karnot hishtalmut: In principle, if one keren hishtalmut has matured (6 years have passed) and you leave it untouched, it makes your others available as well.

The Israeli government publishes the financial results for these plans at http://gemelnet.mof.gov.il/Tsuot/UI/DafMakdim.aspx.

Medical Insurance

This is not the norm in Israel, but is becoming more common.

Stock Options

Stock options for technical writers are not the norm, but they are not uncommon either.

Company Car

Many hi-tech companies allow their employees to give up part of their gross income in return for use of a company car. This usually includes all maintenance costs and a gasoline allowance, but details vary from employer to employer. A small number of companies offer this as an additional benefit, unrelated to giving up gross salary.

Company Cell Phone

Company policy on company cell phones for their technical writers varies. This benefit is taxed.

Unemployment Insurance

Employers are required to deduct 5% of your salary and pay a certain percentage of your salary to Bituach Leumi (National Insurance). Among other things, this is for unemployment insurance. You can find more details at the Bituach Leumi site (Hebrew...)  (English...)

Who is Your Employer and Who is Responsible for the Above Benefits?

This is not always clear, especially for employees of subcontractors and personnel agencies when the employee works in-house for a single client. 

It appears that under certain circumstances section 12 A of the  "Law on Employment of  Workers by a Human Resources Company, 1996" can make the client of a subcontractor or human resources company responsible for providing benefits to employees supplied by the subcontractor/HR agency. You can find information and a copy of the law in Hebrew at http://www.ovdim.org.il/Page10910.asp .