Israeli lawyers threaten unprecedented sanctions

Adv. Ephraim Nave Photo: Tamar Matsafi
Adv. Ephraim Nave Photo: Tamar Matsafi

The dispute about retirement benefits for judges could disrupt court hearings after Passover.

Adv. Efraim Nave said today that the Israel Bar Association intended to disrupt work in the courts by refusing to attend legal hearings in in Israel after the Passover holiday. The Bar Association is acting in solidarity with the judges, who are protesting their retirement benefits.

Most of the discontent among the judges and lawyers concerns pensions for new judges, which they say discriminate against judges, in comparison with other senior civil service positions. While judges formerly received unfunded pensions on preferential terms, it was decided several years ago that they would begin receiving funded pensions. More than half of the judges currently have funded pensions.

The "Yedioth Ahronoth" daily newspaper first reported the strike threat.

Unfunded pensions existed in the civil service and state-supported agencies until 2002, when the state switched to funded pensions, thereby creating a class of privileged veteran employees. Employees who began working in civil service jobs before 2002 pay nothing for their savings, which are totally funded by the state, i.e. by the taxpayers.

This is not the only difference. A funded pension is calculated from an employee's average salary during his employment, and savers pay management fees. Retirees with unfunded pensions receive at least 2% of their salary for each year of work, with the salary being the last salary received by the employee before his retirement. This makes it easy for the employer to increase the pension benefit of every employee by raising his salary grade just before his retirement.

Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on March 29, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Adv. Ephraim Nave Photo: Tamar Matsafi
Adv. Ephraim Nave Photo: Tamar Matsafi
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