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Annual Leave Law, 5711-1951

חוק חופשה שנתית, תשי"א-1951

Published: 1951-07-11Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2026-07-21 · Last amended 2026-07-20✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-28
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Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More

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Despite these checks, it may contain errors, omissions, or imprecise renderings of legal terminology and cross-references, and it may not yet reflect the latest amendments. It cannot be relied upon as a legal text.

The Hebrew text as published in Reshumot (ספר החוקים) and on the Knesset website is the sole authoritative and legally binding version. In any discrepancy, the Hebrew text prevails.

This translation is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For use in legal proceedings, request a certified Expert Legal Opinion.

Chapter V: Implementation and Penalties

Leave Register§

26.
(a)An employer is required to maintain a leave register in which shall be recorded, in relation to each employee, the particulars to be prescribed by Regulations.
(b)The Minister of Labour shall prescribe, by notice published in Reshumot (Official Gazette), the categories of employers to whom this Section applies.
(c)In a notice under subsection (b) the Minister of Labour may prescribe that the leave register shall form part of another register that the employer is required to maintain under a law whose implementation the Minister of Labour is charged with.

Powers of a Labour Inspector§

27.
(a)The powers of a labour inspector, in relation to any place where he has reason to believe that an employee is employed, are the same as the powers of an inspector under section 10(1) of the Department of Labour Ordinance, 1943.
(b)A labour inspector may interrogate, on any matter relating to this Law, any person found at a place to which the labour inspector has come by virtue of his powers under subsection (a); however, no person shall be required to give an answer or testimony that may render him liable to criminal prosecution.

A labour inspector may record in a protocol the answers and statements of the person being interrogated.

(c)A protocol recorded in accordance with subsection (b) shall have the same status as a statement recorded in accordance with section 2 of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Evidence), and sections 3 and 4 of that Ordinance shall apply thereto.

Offences and Penalties§

28.
(a)An employer who commits one of the following offences —
(1)did not grant his employee leave under this Law;
(2)did not pay, without sufficient justification and within a reasonable time, leave pay, leave redemption or leave pay in lieu under this Law,

is liable to a fine of up to fifty pounds in respect of each employee in relation to whom the offence was committed.

(b)A person who commits one of the following offences —
(1)obstructed a labour inspector in the exercise of his powers;
(2)refused to answer a question put by a labour inspector that he is required to answer;
(3)did not maintain a leave register under section 26;
(4)did not record the particulars required to be recorded in a leave register, or recorded incorrect or incomplete particulars;
(5)contravened Regulations made by the Minister of Labour under this Law,

is liable to a fine of up to fifty pounds.

Liability of a Management Member and of Directors§

29.

Where a company, cooperative society or any other body of persons has not granted an employee leave under this Law or has not paid, without sufficient justification and within a reasonable time, leave pay, leave redemption or leave pay in lieu, every member of the management, director or officer of that body of persons shall also be deemed guilty of the offence and may be prosecuted and punished as if he himself had committed the offence, unless he proves one of the following:

(a)that the offence was committed without his knowledge;
(b)that he took all appropriate measures to ensure that the provisions of this Law in connection with the offence in question would be complied with.

Order for Payment§

30.
(a)In proceedings in which a person is charged with an offence under section 28(a)(1), the employee has the right to plead and to examine witnesses, and the court or the Labour Court may, upon the application of the employee, order the accused to pay to the employee an amount equal to the leave pay that would have been paid to him had the leave been granted at the end of the year of work following the year of work in respect of which the leave was due.
(b)In proceedings in which a person is charged with an offence under section 28(a)(2), the employee or the person to whom the leave pay in lieu is to be paid, as the case may be, has the right to plead and to examine witnesses, and the court or the Labour Court may, upon the application of the employee or upon the application of the person to whom the leave pay in lieu is to be paid, order the accused to pay the leave pay, the leave redemption or the leave pay in lieu which the accused was required to pay and failed to do so.
(c)An order of the court requiring the accused to make payment, as referred to in subsection (a) or subsection (b), shall have the same status, in respect of enforcement, as a final judgment of a competent court or Labour Court, in favour of the employee or in favour of the person to whom the leave pay in lieu is to be paid, as the case may be.

Limitation§

31.

The limitation period for any claim under this Law, whether civil or criminal, is three years.

Leave in an Emergency§

32.

At a time when, in the opinion of the Minister of Labour, the supply needs of the State so require, the Minister of Labour may, by general or special Order, postpone the date of leave in respect of all employees or in respect of a particular category of employees; where the Minister of Labour has made such an Order, he shall determine from what date the leave shall be granted or in what manner the employee shall be compensated for the leave.

Status of State Employees§

33.

For the purposes of this Law, a State employee has the same status as any other employee.

Group of Employees§

34.

In a group of employees, whether or not an incorporated body, each member of the group shall be regarded as an employee of the person who assigned the work to the group, if he would have been so regarded had there been a direct relationship between him and each member of the group; and each such member of the group shall be regarded as a wage employee who has worked for fewer than 75 consecutive days and in respect of whom leave pay in lieu is to be paid under section 15.

Non-application§

35.
(a)This Law does not apply to —
(1)an employee in agriculture who receives all his remuneration for work in a share of the crop, in services or in kind;
(2)(Repealed)
(3)a casual employee in work that is not for the purposes of the employer's business or occupation.
(b)The Minister of Labour may make Regulations defining what constitutes casual work for the purposes of subsection (a)(3).

Implementation and Regulations§

36.

The Minister of Labour is charged with the implementation of this Law and may make Regulations on any matter relating to its implementation.

Duty of Consultation§

37.

The Minister of Labour shall not make Regulations, other than Regulations under section 26(a), and shall not exercise his powers under sections 18(a), 21, 23(a), 26(b) and 32, except after consultation with the national workers' organisation representing the largest number of employees and also with national employers' organisations which in the opinion of the Minister of Labour are representative and concerned.

Preservation of Rights§

38.

This Law does not come to derogate from any right vested in an employee under law, collective agreement, contract of employment or custom.

Commencement§

39.

This Law shall come into force on the 1st of Tishrei 5712 (1 October 1951).

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Schedule (Section 6)

1.§

Fast of Gedaliah; Eve of Yom Kippur; Eve of Sukkot; Hoshana Raba; Fast of the Tenth of Tevet (General Kaddish Day); Fast of Esther; Purim; Shushan Purim; Eve of Passover; Eve of the Seventh Day of Passover; Mimouna Festival; Lag BaOmer; Eve of Shavuot; Fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz; Fast of the Ninth of Av; Eve of Rosh Hashana.

s1i1a.§

The day of the Passover sacrifice offering; the Festival of Passover; the Seventh Day of Passover (Festival of Unleavened Bread); the Festival of Weeks; the Festival of the Seventh Month; the Day of Atonement; the Festival of Tabernacles; the Eighth Day of Assembly – all of these, on the dates on which they are celebrated by members of the Samaritan community.

2.§

Christmas Eve; New Year's Eve; the Eve of the Feast of Epiphany; Easter Eve; the Day of the Annunciation; the Eve of the Ascension of Jesus; the Eve of the Festival of Weeks.

3.§

The Eve of the Hijri New Year; the Eve of the Prophet's Birthday; the Ascension of the Prophet (Laylat al-Isra wa al-Mi'raj); the Eve of the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast (Eve of Eid al-Fitr); the Eve of the Festival of the Sacrifice (Eve of Eid al-Adha).

4.§

The Eve of the Festival of al-Khidr (Elijah the Prophet); the Eve of the Festival of the Prophet Shu'ayb (Jethro); the Eve of the Festival of the Prophet Sablan; the Eve of the Festival of the Sacrifice (Eve of Eid al-Adha).

5.§

The Memorial Day of the Circassian community.

6.§

The Sigd Holiday.

7.§

International Women's Day; Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day; Memorial Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars and for the Victims of Hostile and Terror Acts (the Eve of Independence Day); Jerusalem Day; the First of May; Victory over Nazi Germany Day; the Anniversary of Herzl's Death; the Civil New Year.

8.§

The personal memorial day of a fallen soldier of Israel's wars or of a person who died as a result of a hostile act injury – in respect of a family member of either of them; for this purpose, "family member" – as defined in section 4a of the Memorial Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars Law, 5723-1963, or in section 7e of the Compensation for Victims of Hostile Acts Law, 5730-1970, as the case may be.

9.§

The memorial day of a deceased person – in respect of a family member; for this purpose, "family member" – parents, spouse, children, brothers and sisters.

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