Security assistants sue El Al for NIS 56m

130 security assistants employed by El Al under personal contracts are suing the carrier for discrimination.

130 security assistants employed by El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (TASE: ELAL) under personal contracts have filed a NIS 56 lawsuit with the Tel Aviv Labor Court against the airline for discrimination. They have asked the court to rule that El Al's collective labor contract should also apply to them, and to order the airline to pay them various salary items deducted over the years.

The claimants are security assistants at El Al's Israel Base, a unit founded in 1998, and whose workers were originally government employees. When El Al was privatized in 2003, the Israel Base unit was transferred to El Al's security department, and the airline employed the unit's employees. The unit's staff man temporary stations at seasonal or irregular destinations (such as the Greek islands during the tourist season), in order to carry out security checks on passengers. They contend that instead of regulating their rights in a collective agreement, El Al unilaterally, without the authority to do so, to make an exception of the Israel Base employees, and employed them through discriminatory personal contracts.

For example, the security assistants claim that, until 2011, they were not paid overtime, nor were they paid the minimum wage even when El Al did not use them while insisting that they remain on call for at least four consecutive days a week throughout the year.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 5, 2013

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013

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