The Knesset plenum today approved the first reading of the unpaid leave plan for employees during Operation Roaring Lion. The target date for completing the legislation in the Knesset is the end of this week. The plan allows employees to go on unpaid leave and receive unemployment compensation with fewer restrictions than in an ordinary situation. The legislation, however, contains prominent differences between what is given to the public and private sectors.

The plan shortens the minimum unpaid leave in the business sector from 30 to only 14 consecutive days. The necessary employment period to qualify for benefits was shortened to six instead of 12 (out of 18 months). The waiting days set by law have been eliminated and the accumulated public vacation days will not be deducted from the eligibility period.

The time window for eligibility will be closed only at the end of April. The determining criterion is the date on which unpaid leave begins, not the date of returning to work. The maximum rate of compensation for an employee in the private sector will be 70% of salary.

The employers' organizations have not concealed their disappointment. Israeli Presidency of Business Organizations Chairman Dubi Amitai this week termed the differences between the sectors "substantial and absurd inequality" because public sector employees will receive 100% coverage from the first day while private sector employees are limited to 70%. The Ministry of Finance dismissed this criticism, saying that the format for the public sector was designed to maintain operational continuity in critical government services.

An abbreviated process is scheduled for the format's second and third Knesset readings, apparently in the Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee chaired by MK Michal Miriam Woldiger from Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich's Knesset faction. Passage of the bill concerning compensation for businesses, which contains a separate format and is expected to reach the ministerial committee today, is not expected to be concluded before the Passover holiday and probably only in May.

In contrast to the war with Iran last June, in which a plan was enacted retroactively when the operation's end date was already known, the Ministry of Finance has formulated this law in circumstances of inherent uncertainty under the basic pessimistic assumption that the campaign will not end soon. Parties involved in designing the plan said that if this situation changes, the period of eligibility in the law can be shortened by rapid legislative process.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 24, 2026.

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