The Hours of Work and Rest Law, 5711-1951, is the basis for everything to do with working time in Israel: what counts as a working day, when overtime starts, how much rest an employee is owed and what the employer has to record. This guide brings all the rules together in one place and points to our detailed guides on each topic.

Who the law applies to

The law covers most employees in the economy, whatever their job percentage. It does not apply to a few groups, including:

• Employees in management roles or roles requiring a special degree of personal trust.
• Employees whose working conditions and circumstances leave the employer no way to supervise their hours.
• The employer’s family members working in the business, and a few other groups the law lists.

The exceptions are read narrowly. In practice, the more the employer can supervise working hours — for example with an attendance app — the harder it is to argue the law does not apply.

The working day and the working week

A full working week is 42 hours. In a 5-day week the regular working day is 8.6 hours; in a 6-day week it is 8 hours with one shorter day. Every hour beyond the regular day is overtime. All the numbers, with a summary table, are in our guide how many hours a day you may work, and you can work out part-time hours with the job percentage calculator.

Overtime: 125% and 150%

The first two overtime hours each day are paid at 125%, and from the third hour on at 150%. Under the general permit, the working day including overtime may not exceed 12 hours, and overtime is capped at 16 hours a week.

Overtime pay cannot be waived by agreement, and a global salary that includes overtime must meet the conditions set by the courts. Details in the guide to overtime and Shabbat and holiday rates, and a quick check with the overtime calculator.

Breaks during the working day

On a working day of 6 hours or more an employee is owed a break of at least 45 minutes, including one continuous break of at least 30 minutes. The break is not working time — unless the employee must stay at the workplace during it. How to deduct correctly, and the common mistakes, in the guide to break deductions.

Weekly rest and holidays

Every employee is owed a weekly rest of at least 36 consecutive hours. For a Jewish employee it includes Shabbat; others choose Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Work during the weekly rest requires a permit, and someone lawfully employed during it is owed at least 150% and alternative rest. Holiday work also carries a premium; details in the guide to Shabbat and holiday rates.

Night work

A working day with at least two hours between 22:00 and 06:00 is night work. For night work the regular day shortens to 7 hours, and every hour beyond that is overtime. When you build a shift schedule, check how many night weeks each employee has as well.

Attendance records and Amendment 24

The employer must keep a working hours register for every employee: when they started, when they finished, overtime and work during the weekly rest. Amendment 24 to the Wage Protection Law added a detailed payslip and reversed the burden of proof: an employer who does not produce records in an overtime claim starts from a presumption in the employee’s favour of up to 15 overtime hours a week.

The record-keeping duty covers remote and field employees too. See Amendment 24 — records and a detailed payslip, attendance when working from home and what is allowed with GPS location checks.

Enforcement and exposure

Breaches of the Hours of Work and Rest Law and of the record and payslip duties expose the employer to two kinds of risk: financial sanctions imposed by the Ministry of Labor’s enforcement unit, and employee claims, which can usually be brought up to 7 years back. In most claims the central question is what the records show — so complete, accurate records are the best protection.

An employer’s checklist

• Every employee has clock-in and clock-out records, including remote and field staff.
• Overtime is calculated both daily and weekly, at 125% and 150%.
• No one works more than 12 hours a day or 16 overtime hours a week.
• Breaks are deducted only when the employee was really free to leave.
• Every employee has 36 consecutive hours of rest a week, and Shabbat and holiday work is paid at a premium.
• Night shifts are calculated on a 7-hour day.
• The payslip itemises regular hours, overtime and rest-day work.
• Corrections to records are logged: who changed what, when and why.

Staying compliant without spreadsheets

RayClock is built around Israeli law: employees clock in from a phone, a computer or an NFC tag, and the system calculates overtime, breaks, night shifts, Shabbat and holidays by the Hebrew calendar. Every correction is kept in a change log, shift scheduling feeds the calculation, and at month end you lock and export to payroll. More about the attendance system.

The information in this article is general and is not legal or tax advice. Collective agreements, sector extension orders and personal agreements may set different, sometimes more favourable, arrangements, and the rules themselves change from time to time. For any specific question, consult a lawyer specialising in employment law or an accountant.