The law raising the minimum amount of paid vacation days from 10 to 12 per year - promoted written by MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) - is officially in effect. Only the first extra day will be provided this year, with the second day added in January 2017.
The new amendment is the first to extend the vacation period since an annual paid vacation was first enforced by law in 1951.
Azaria said Thursday: “Every employee in Israel needs to know that he or she gets another day off starting tomorrow. We have a minimum of 10 vacation days when the rest of the world has a minimum of 15-20 - we are still a long way behind. Even within Israel there is a substantial gap between the vacation days provided to unionized employees and non-union workers - this law aims to narrow that gap."
The amendment stipulates 14 vacation days per year until the fifth year in a job. After the fifth year, the amount increases gradually until it reaches 28 days after 14 years. The law was appropriate in an era when people worked for the same company for decades, a time when they could earn a reasonable amount of vacation days after a few years - parents with school-age children had been at their workplace for a decade and could take enough vacation days to spend summer with their families.
The reality today is vastly different. People of the generation born in the 1970s and 1980s do not remain with the same employer for more than 3-4 years, meaning they are stuck with the same two weeks (or 10 work-days) for a long time. The other OECD nations have updated their minimum vacation periods to three and four weeks to match the changes in the workplace.
The amendment passed with the help of the Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Tourism. The Histadrut and the Israel Manufacturers Association were also in favor.
Azaria added: “Today the children started their summer break, and I know that the length of this break is daunting because of the gap between the children's vacation and the parents’ vacation days; but we are in the process of adapting the labor market to the education system and this vacation day is part of that.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 3, 2016
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