Severance Pay for an Employee who Resigns?
Under what conditions is resignation treated as dismissal?
Many (including employers) will claim that under no circumstances would an employee who resigns receive severance pay. Generally, for an employee to be eligible for severance pay, he must have worked for the same employer for at least a year, and have been terminated involuntarily. However, this claim is not universally true, and employees are sometimes entitled to resignation severance pay.
Other articles on our website explain under which circumstances an employee who is fired is not eligible for severance pay. This article, by attorney Joshua Pex, will explain situations under which a person may resign from his job and still be eligible for severance pay under Israeli law.
When would an employee who resigns receive severance pay?
When it is contractually required
The most common reason is, of course, that it is part of the employee’s employment contract. In the event that an employee is a member of a collective bargaining agreement, or if the employee has signed an Article 14 contract under the Severance Pay Law, so that the employer has put aside severance pay in advance, the employee will receive that severance pay even if he leaves his employment voluntarily. In this case, it does not matter how long he has worked or the reason for his termination of employment. In any event, he will receive severance pay based on his term of employment.
Under Israeli Labor Law, an employee who resigns is eligible for severance pay under the following conditions:
There are a number of situations, according to Israeli Labor Law, where an employee may receive partial or full severance pay on resignation, even with an ordinary employment contract. The list is lengthy and complicated, but here are some of the more common possibilities:
- Reaching retirement age
- Illness of the employee or a family member for whom he provides care
- Becoming a parent, biological or other (if the employee resigns within nine months of the child’s arrival)
- Worsening work conditions (if the employer was warned and given a chance to improve said conditions before resignation)
- Being called up to service (army, national service)
- Closing of the place of employment
- Relocation of employee’s residence, but only for specific reasons (marriage, divorce and other circumstances delineated by law).
In general, Israeli law tries to be supportive of employees who are forced to leave their place of employment involuntarily. For example, women in a battered women’s shelter are considered to have been terminated even if they left their place of employment “voluntarily.” A deceased employee is also (no pun intended) considered as involuntarily terminated and his family receives his unemployment benefits.
In the event you are fired by your employer and did not receive severance pay, or resigned under circumstances that are considered involuntary termination, or in the case of any labor dispute, our Law Offices in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are at your service.
:
:מאמרים מומלצים