Caregivers in Israel

This was published by Jerusalem Online last July 2015. You migh want to know that changes on the Minimum Wage will gradually change in the coming months. Here is the article published by JOL: Minimum Wage To Go Up in April The first stage of implementing the new law will increase the minimum wage by 300 NIS. The minimum wage rise will go ahead despite the elections.  Attorney  General Yehuda Weinstein has approved the legislation on Tuesday to introduce a three-phase minimum wage increase.  The move meant to anchor a three phase minimum wage hike between 2015 and 2017, as proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also the acting Finance Minister. The minimum wage in Israel currently stands at 4,300 shekels. The first phase of the plan, scheduled to take effect in April, will see the minimum wage rise to NIS 4,650. The second phase, set for July 2016, will see it rise to 4,825 NIS.  The third and final phase is expacted to...

Tel-Aviv, Israel - After so many years of unending talks, rallies and different opinions, finally, Interior Minister Aryeh Der’iy decided: instead of expulsion, workers in the nursing industry will be able to renew their expired visas and stay legally in Israel. Interior Minister Der’iy decided to allow caregivers whose visas have expired to remain in Israel and help the elderly. Many families, especially the elderly, are often bonded to their caregivers. Over the years, the nursing practitioner's certificate expires when he/she is already 5 years in Israel and the patient or employer dies. Typically, Caregivers will begin to work with another elderly person. But by doing so, they are actually defying the Israeli Immigration law because the law requires them to leave the country and get a new visa in their country - causing losses for them and for the elderly, but benefit from brokers and owners of agencies. Therefore, they are forced to hide and rarely leave home to a...

{These new regulations are relevant only to workers who receive their salaries from both the employer and the bituach agency} Starting November 1st, 2016, all the amounts accrued to caregivers in the nursing agencies ("bituach" agencies) for severance and pension, will be deposited in a state fund, supervised by the state of Israel. Caregivers will be able to withdraw the amount accrued for them in this fund only upon their departure, when they leave the country for good. All amounts accrued in the state fund will be subjected to a 15% state tax, which will be deducted from the total amount accrued for each caregiver when the money is withdrawn. In order to get the full amount (after tax), all caregivers must leave the country within 60 days after the end of their last job (for example – if your employer passed away on July 2, you must leave the country before October 2). Caregivers who stay in Israel more than 60 days, will pay a fine according to the follo...

Although the law forbids the collection of such fees from migrant workers, they have steadily been rising, especially for those employed as caregivers. A new survey by an NGO supporting migrant workers in Israel reveals that all who entered the country in recent years paid a high agent fee. The survey, conducted by Kav LaOved Worker's Hotline and reported here for the first time, found that on average, the fee paid in 2015 was $10,700, as compared to $6,000 a decade ago ­ — an increase of nearly 80 percent. The law expressly forbids collection of an agent fee from migrant workers. Citizens of the Philippines, who comprise about a third of the caregivers for the elderly in Israel, paid $8,300. Caregivers from India and Sri Lanka paid $12,000, or 50 percent more. The survey also shows that 46 percent of migrant caregivers who entered Israel in 2015 paid part or all of the agent fee in Israel, compared to 38 percent during 2007 to 2010. This undermines the authorities’ claim t...