Employee Protection (Exposure of Offences and Harm to Integrity or Proper Administration) Law, 5757-1997

חוק הגנה על עובדים (חשיפת עבירות ופגיעה בטוהר המידות או במינהל התקין), תשנ"ז-1997

Published: 1997-02-20Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2023-09-18 · Last amended 2022-05-17✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-05

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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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Definitions§

In this Law –

"public body" means a body listed in the Schedule;

"supervisor on behalf of the employer" means a person who is appointed on behalf of the employer over the employment matters of a particular employee or of all employees;

"employment matters" means any of the following:

(1)conditions of employment;

(2)promotion at work;

(3)vocational training or professional development;

(4)dismissal or severance pay;

(5)benefits and payments given to an employee in connection with retirement from work.

Protection of a complainant§

(a)An employer shall not harm the employment matters of an employee, and shall not dismiss the employee, by reason of the employee having filed a complaint against the employer or against another employee of the same employer, or by reason of the employee having assisted another employee in connection with the filing of such a complaint.

(b)A supervisor on behalf of the employer shall not harm the employment matters of an employee, and shall not cause harm to the employee's employment matters or to the employee's dismissal, by reason of the employee having filed a complaint against the employer or against an employee of the same employer, or by reason of the employee having assisted another employee in connection with the filing of such a complaint.

Jurisdiction and remedies§

(a)The Regional Labour Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear civil proceedings for a breach of the provisions of section 2, and it may –

(1)award compensation even if no monetary damage was caused, in an amount that appears to it appropriate in the circumstances of the matter, and it may also order the person in breach to pay compensation that is not dependent on damage (in this section – exemplary damages), in an amount not exceeding NIS 50,000; however, the court may award exemplary damages in an amount not exceeding NIS 500,000, by reason of the gravity of the breach or circumstances relating to the breach, including the conduct of the person in breach or the breach being a repeated breach;

(2)grant an injunction or a mandatory order, including an order cancelling a dismissal or an order directing that the employee be transferred to another suitable position, if it found that awarding compensation alone would not be just; in coming to grant an order under this section, the court shall take into account, inter alia, the effect of the order on labour relations at the workplace and the possibility that another employee may be harmed; the provisions of this paragraph shall apply notwithstanding the provisions of section 3(2) of the Contracts (Remedies for Breach of Contract) Law, 5731-1970.

(a1)In awarding exemplary damages under subsection (a)(1), the court may take into account –

(1)a fine imposed on the person in breach after conviction, for the same breach, of an offence under this Law;

(2)special compensation that the Public Complaints Commissioner ordered to be paid pursuant to section 45c(b) of the State Comptroller Law, 5718-1958 [Consolidated Version].

(a2)The amounts specified in subsection (a)(1) shall be updated on 1 January of each year (in this subsection – the update date), in accordance with the rate of increase of the new index compared with the base index; for this purpose –

"new index" means the index most recently published before the update date;

"base index" means the index published in June 2008;

"index" means the consumer price index published by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

(b)The provisions of subsection (a)(2) shall apply to every employer that is a public body and also to every employer that is not a public body and employs more than 25 employees.

(c)If the Regional Labour Court found that the plaintiff's complaint or the complaint in the filing of which the plaintiff assisted was a false complaint, in circumstances where the plaintiff knew of this or ought to have known of this, the court shall not grant relief under this Law; and if it found that the complaint or the assistance in filing it were also made in bad faith, the court may order the plaintiff, after giving the plaintiff a reasonable opportunity to argue his contentions on this matter, to pay compensation to the employer or to another employee against whom the complaint was filed.

Burden of proof§

3a.

In proceedings brought by an employee for a breach of the provisions of section 2, the burden of proof shall lie with the defendant to show that the defendant acted not in contravention of the provisions of that section, if the employee proved all of the following:

(1)that the employer harmed the employee's employment matters or dismissed the employee, or that the supervisor on behalf of the employer harmed the employee's employment matters or caused harm to the employee's employment matters or to the employee's dismissal, as the case may be;

(2)that there was no reason in the employee's conduct or actions to harm the employee's employment matters or to dismiss the employee, and in respect of harm to employment matters for which conditions or qualifications have been prescribed – also that the said conditions or qualifications were met by the employee.

(3)that no more than two years have elapsed from the date on which the complaint was filed by the employee or with the employee's assistance as referred to in section 2, until the date on which the employee was harmed or dismissed as referred to in that section.

Scope of protection§

Protections and remedies under this Law shall be granted only in respect of a complaint in which all of the following conditions were met:

(1)the complaint was filed by the employee in good faith, or the employee assisted in the filing of the complaint in good faith;

(2)the complaint was filed regarding a breach of a legislative provision at the workplace, or a breach of a legislative provision in connection with the employee's work or in connection with the business or activity of the employer, and in a public body – also where the complaint was filed regarding harm to integrity or to proper administration;

(3)the complaint was filed with the authority competent to receive a complaint or competent to examine or investigate the matter that is the subject of the complaint.

Limitation§

The Regional Labour Court shall not entertain proceedings for a breach of the provisions of this Law that were filed after three years have elapsed from the day on which the cause of action arose; however, in calculating the limitation period there shall not be counted a period, not exceeding two years, from the day of the filing of a complaint on the same matter with the Public Complaints Commissioner under the State Comptroller Law, 5718-1958 [Consolidated Version], until the completion of the processing and examination of the complaint by the Commissioner, notwithstanding the provisions of section 45(a)(2) of that Law.

Penalties§

5a.

(a)An employer who harms the employment matters of an employee or dismisses the employee, in contravention of the provisions of section 2(a), or a supervisor on behalf of the employer who harms the employment matters of an employee or causes harm to the employee's employment matters or to the employee's dismissal, in contravention of the provisions of section 2(b), is liable to imprisonment of three years or a fine as referred to in section 61(a)(3) of the Penal Law, 5737-1977.

(b)In coming to impose a fine under subsection (a), the court may take into account –

(1)exemplary damages within their meaning in section 3, which were imposed on the accused by a final judgment for the act in respect of which the accused is to be sentenced;

(2)special compensation that the Public Complaints Commissioner ordered to be paid pursuant to section 45c(b) of the State Comptroller Law, 5718-1958 [Consolidated Version].

Addition of bodies to the Schedule§

The Minister of Labour and Welfare may, with the approval of the Labour and Welfare Committee of the Knesset, add further bodies to the list of public bodies in the Schedule.

Savings provisions§

The provisions of this Law do not derogate from the provisions of any other law.

Status of the State§

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

Implementation and regulations§

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

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Schedule (Section 1)

(1)a Government ministry and State institutions;

(2)a local authority and any corporation under its control;

(3)a corporation established by law, and also a Government company as defined in the Government Companies Law, 5735-1975;

(4)a corporation whose business management is subject to supervision or audit under a law specifically dedicated to businesses of the type it manages;

(5)a recognised educational institution, as defined in the Compulsory Education Law, 5709-1949;

(6)an institution of higher education within its meaning in the Council for Higher Education Law, 5718-1958;

(7)a health maintenance organisation as defined in the National Health Insurance Law, 5754-1994;

(8)a workers' organisation and an employers' organisation, and also a corporation under their control;

(9)the World Zionist Organisation;

(10)the Jewish Agency for the Land of Israel;

(11)the Jewish National Fund;

(12)Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal;

(13)any enterprise, institution, fund or other body in the management of which the Government participates.

In this Schedule, "control" means the ability to direct the activity of the corporation.

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LawAdministrative LawLabor Law

חוק הגנה על עובדים (חשיפת עבירות ופגיעה בטוהר המידות או במינהל התקין), תשנ"ז-1997

whistleblower law

employee protection law 1997

exposure of offences law

tkuma law

protection of whistleblowers

improper administration exposure

breach of integrity law

worker protection disclosure

employee disclosure protection

offence exposure law

Employee Protection (Exposure of Offences and Harm to Integrity or Proper Administration) Law, 5757-1997

Definitions§Cite ✦

Protection of a complainant§Cite ✦

Jurisdiction and remedies§Cite ✦

Burden of proof§Cite ✦

Scope of protection§Cite ✦

Limitation§Cite ✦

Penalties§Cite ✦

Addition of bodies to the Schedule§Cite ✦

Savings provisions§Cite ✦

Status of the State§Cite ✦

Implementation and regulations§Cite ✦