Bowing to pressure from business organizations, the government is set to agree to shorten the minimum qualifying period for employees to receive benefits for unpaid leave during the war with Iran.

According to the revised compensation framework, the government will agree to reduce the minimum leave period that entitles furloughed private sector workers to receive 75% of their full salary. The period will now be five consecutive days, down from 10 days.

The amendment will cost the government about NIS 500 million ($168 million), the source of which has yet to be determined, according to the Finance Ministry.

The government backed down after the Finance Ministry came under fierce criticism from employees and employer associations, lamenting that the previous unpaid leave framework did not go far enough. It left out earners who did not work during the first five days of the Iran war and were furloughed due to security restrictions that shut down the economy, but returned after the Home Front guidelines were eased.

The amendment to the unpaid leave outline and a framework to compensate businesses whose revenues were hurt during the war with Iran were approved by the Knesset Finance Committee late on Wednesday and are expected to be submitted for final passage in the Knesset plenum early next week.

“There is an agreement that the first five days of the war, in which workers could not work because the economy was closed, will be recognized for unpaid leave........

© The Times of Israel