While the Knesset Finance Committee and the Ministry of Finance are still disputing in increase in the retirement age for women, coalition chairman MK David Bittan (Likud) and opposition coordinator last Thursday submitted a bill that would dramatically change the retirement age situation for both men and women.
According to the bill, employers will no longer be allowed to force their employees into retirement merely because they have reached the legal retirement age of 67, unless a medical examination undergone by the employee with his or her consent finds that the employee is unfit to work. The bill states that upon reaching retirement age, the employee is entitled to ask his employer to move him to another job, while the employer is obligated to make an honest effort to allow the employee to do so. The employee is also entitled to work part time for a lower salary, and will be entitled to a reduced pension accordingly.
The bill seeks to ensure that an employee's retirement for reasons of age will be solely according to his or her preference, without being subject to considerations of the employer or the legislator. Actually, the National Labor Court already ruled in late 2012 that an employer seeking to terminate a worker's employment must provide a reason beyond the employee's reaching pension age, after conducting a hear in the matter and hearing the employee's wish. It is nevertheless believed that this ruling has not been implemented in most cases.
It is commonly believed that the aging of the population and the raising of the retirement age is having a negative impact on young people's employment opportunities. In their explanations accompanying the bill, however, Bittan and Michaeli cite the findings of the US National Bureau of Economic Research that a higher employment rate among older people does not harm young people's opportunities.
The Ministry of Finance, however, is staunchly opposed to such a law, which it insists would hurt younger people in the job market. For example, one official said, if university lecturers need not retire, then new positions would not open up for younger lecturers.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on August 27, 2017
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