The idea behind JobMob Pro Chats is simple: bring industry experts to you so you can get answers to your questions right away.

Invitee: Moshe Egel-Tal

Moshe Egel-Tal, CSPPMoshe Egel-Tal is a certified senior payroll professional (CSPP) with over 20 years experience in the finance field. He has vast experience in payroll instruction to end users, setup and implementation of payroll departments and fine-tuning payroll processes for companies. Moshe has lectured at university on labor laws in HR managers' courses and at payroll comptrollers' courses. Born in Chicago, Moshe made aliya in 1978 and resides with his wife and 3 sons in Jerusalem. Get Moshe's book ā€œTax Benefits for Salaried Employees in Israelā€œ.

For more information about Moshe, see his Jobshuk profile or LinkedIn profile. If you need help with labor issues in Israel,Ā Moshe can help you with his consultation services.

What topics will be discussed?

Moshe Egel-Tal: JobMobbers can ask aboutā€¦ ā€œanything that pertains to Israeli labor laws, employee rights (including termination/resignation ā€“ severance pay, advance notice, etc) ā€¦ If it is something I can't answer or don't deal with ā€“ I will say so and direct them to the proper channel.ā€

Ask any pertinent question. Moshe has a lot of experience and many real-world stories to tell.

When is the chat?

The chat will take place for one hour on July 15th 2008 from 7pm ā€“ 8pm Israel time (check your local time).

How can you join the chat?

To be hosted in a new JobMob chat room on geesee.com, anyone can participate in the chat and you don't even need to be a JobMob subscriber, so bring your friends.

From about 30 minutes before the chat begins until the end of the chat, a link to the chat room will appear in a banner beneath the JobMob logo here on the site. Clicking that link will take you directly to the JobMob chat room.

More information on the chat

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Jacob Share

Job Search Expert, Professional Blogger, Creative Thinker, Community Builder with a sense of humor. I like to help people.

This Post Has 12 Comments

  1. Bena Ochs

    I was wondering whether it is illegal for prospective employers (or employment agencies) to ask your age even before they interview you or even consider you for a prospective position with a company.
    I have had numerous situations where my qualifications are clearly listed on my C.V., including years I graduated undergrad and grad school and still the prospective employer or head hunter here will ask me my age claiming that it is relevant to my level of experience. When I refuse to give it they basically do not contact me again. How legal is it to ask that question?

  2. Jacob Share

    Thanks for your question, Bena. Iā€™ll get it to Moshe for you.

  3. Ezra Gilbert

    Thanks for your question, Bena. Iā€™ll get it to Moshe for you.

  4. Jacob Share

    Ezra, I was planning on having a transcript but in the end it wasnā€™t possible.

    Strangely enough, both Moshe and I had technical difficulties that disrupted the chatting. I kept getting disconnected from the chat room and Moshe couldnā€™t connect at all, although everyone in the chat room wasnā€™t experiencing any of these issues.

    We decided that I would forward all questions to Moshe and heā€™ll respond asap. If people are open to it, I will post the questions and answers here on JobMob.

  5. Jacob Share

    Bena, hereā€™s Mosheā€™s reply:

    ā€œHello Bena.
    This is a problem that is hard to work around because of the way employers in Israel do things.

    It is illegal by law to discriminate against workers or potential candidates because of their age. This is specifically listed in the wording of the law ā€œEqual opportunities at workā€ law from 1988. (section 2 a)

    What you can do is file a complaint with the Ministry of Labor. Ask for the natziv ezoriā€™s (area commissioner) phone number and address. Make sure you have the name of the company, name of the person who interviewed you (even if it was via telephone) and the date and time.

    It is hard to prove as they can always make excuses and say that your other credentials didnā€™t fit what they were looking for. Also even if the commission finds your claims valid ā€“ they will get a fine and probably continue. Know that this type of employer isnā€™t a very serious one and you would probably be better off elsewhere anyhow.ā€

  6. abe

    I have a consultantā€™s agreement with a company. Nothing is mentioed in the contract with regard to out of pocket expenses. The compay paid all the expenses when the vendors billed them but now they deducted them when it came to paying the consultance fee.They say Iā€™m not entitled because there is no allowance in the contract

  7. Moshe

    Anyone who does consultation should be able to raise issues like this prior to starting the job. everything should be above board and clear.
    Obviously, you shouldnā€™t need to shoulder expenses related to consultation for a company, but there isnā€™t really anything illegal here by them not paying expenses, especially since you stated that you have a contract with them.Some companies spend excessive amounts on concepts and consultation but are ,miserly with expenses even when they are peanuts in their budget. you should try to renegotiate the agreement with them. If they refuse to pay the expenses you should work with what you are given (in terms of budget) and donā€™t shoulder company expenses.

  8. abe

    Firstly, I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer my question. That being said I would like to point out some details re my situation. This issue has only come up years after the contract was negotiated. The company paid these expenses directly to the vendors for two+ years. The consultance fee was not paid for technical reasons. Unbeknownst to me the company kept track of all these expenses ad then after years decided to deduct it fro my fees. The contract does not entio anything about expenses nor doesit say that the fee is the full compensation for the services rendered. The company deemed important incurring these expenses. these expenses ended up being app. 30% of the fee. I feel the company should be responsible for reasonable out of pocket expenses. Any more thoughts?

    Respectfully
    Abe

  9. Moshe

    Abe ā€“ I would strongly suggest you seek legal counsel on this as it is not a labor law related question but more of a contract dispute issue. these things can be complicated, especially when there are unclear things not mentioned in the contract and each side sees it differently.

    all the best

    Moshe

  10. Tal

    Hello,
    My wife and myself had been living in Australia in the past 3.5 years.

    1. General question- If an employee resign from his job and the employer did not ā€˜releaseā€™ his/her severance funds specifically, but those funds are in the ā€˜poolā€™ of the pension/manager fund,
    can the employee withdraw those funds after few years? What is the timeframe (30 days, 6 months, 1 year etc.) in which the employer who does not wish to release those funds needs to withdraw those funds in order that the employee cannot ā€˜touchā€™ those monies?
    2. Are releasing of severance funds from the Manager fund after 3-4 years are taxed free? Or in order to receive tax free, you need to withdraw those funds within certain time after quiting/terminating the job?
    3. My wife worked for first employer in Israel till 1995 and her severance money is still included in her Pension fund, is she able to withdraw those funds (she have a termination letter from that employer)?
    4. My wife worked for 2nd employer from 1997 to 2002, she resigned from that employer 7 months after giving birth, is she entitled for the severance money in her manager fund?
    can she withdraw those funds from her manager funds free of tax today?
    5. My wife worked at her 3rd employer between 2002 and 2005, 2 days after she resigned we moved to live overseas, is she entitled for her severance money from that employer free of tax?

  11. Moshe

    I will try to simplfy the questions you raised:
    1. The instances when an employee is entitled to severance pay are clearly defined in the labor laws: resigning after giving birth in order to take care of the baby and because of relocation to another country to join a spouse definitely entitle the employee to severance pay.
    2. The payment of severance pay is within 30 days and the responsibility of the employer. The employer can pay through a severance pay fund of managerā€™s pension plan that has a severance pay section. In either case the employer needs to issue a formal letter to the fund releasing the money accumulated (a copy must be sent to the employee) without this letter the employee will not be able to withdraw any funds from the account.
    3. severance pay is tax free up to 10,500 shekels per year. the rest is taxable at the employeeā€™s tax bracket. the tax is deducted by whoever pays the severance pay (employer ā€“ thru the payslip or the fund)
    4. monies accumulated in managerā€™s accounts and pension plans can be withdrawn tax-free at retirement age. withdrawing the money beforehand is only possible if the account was designated as a capital account and not as a pension plan or if the account was started prior to the pension reform. check with your insurance agent or the policy if you are unsure. at any rate this option isnā€™t advisable as it is taxable at 35% which in most cases is more than the accumulated interest earned.

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