Education Ministry leads in requests to fire pregnant women

55% of all requests were approved.

Sources inform ''Globes'' that the Ministry of Education is the employer with the most applications to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor for permits to fire pregnant women. Of the 1,277 dismissal applications made to the Industry and Trade Ministry in 2007, 550 were filed by the Education Ministry.

Israeli law does not provide a sweeping ban on firing women who are pregnant, or undergoing fertility treatment, but requires those employers seeking to fire such an employee to obtain a permit from the Industry and Trade Ministry.

The Education Ministry's employment contract for teachers and new teachers runs from the start of the new school year in September until its end the following June. At the end of three years of contract-based employment, the Education Ministry can either fire the teachers or offer them tenure. Under the prescribed policy by the Civil Service Commission and the Ministry of Finance, the Education Ministry often avoids giving tenure, and pregnant women sometimes fall foul of this policy.

The Industry and Trade Ministry approves most of the applications filed by the Education Ministry, and also most of those filed by employers in general. One of the reasons for this is that the ministry is convinced that the policy contributes to further efficiency since the sacked teachers were not replaced by new contract staff, but by veteran teachers from within the system.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 5, 2008

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2008

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