Our Israeli staff cannot come to work because of Home Front Command orders. Can we dismiss them or stop their pay?

You cannot dismiss them for it, and the protection binds a foreign employer exactly as it binds an Israeli one. Section 2 of the Protection of Employees in Emergency Law 5766-2006 forbids dismissing an employee because they stayed away from work, or could not do it, as a result of instructions given under the Civil Defense Law 5711-1951 during a declared special situation on the home front. It also protects a parent who stays at home with a child under 14 whose school or kindergarten was closed by those instructions, where conditions about the other parent are met. What the Law does not do is oblige you to pay wages for the days missed. That question is left to the employment contract, collective arrangements and whatever compensation scheme the government sets up for the period.

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Detailed Answer

Everything starts with a declaration under Section 9C of the Civil Defense Law. The Minister of Defence can declare a special situation on the home front for 48 hours, the government can extend it to 5 days, and anything longer needs the approval of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The most recent example is Operation Roaring Lion, for which the Minister of Defence declared a special situation on 28 February 2026. Once a declaration is in force the Home Front Command issues instructions area by area, closing schools, limiting gatherings and restricting which workplaces may open, and Section 2 attaches to absence caused by those instructions. The parental protection is narrower than many employees assume. It covers a child under 14 whose educational institution is closed, and it applies where the employee is the only parent looking after the child, or where the other parent is working and cannot supervise or is otherwise unable to. An employer who ignores the protection pays for it twice. Section 5 gives the Labour Court exclusive jurisdiction and lets it award compensation even where there is no financial loss, or order the employment to continue where money alone would not be fair. Section 7 makes a dismissal in breach an offence punishable by the fine in Section 61(a)(2) of the Penal Law, currently up to NIS 29,200.

Managers abroad tend to follow the news rather than the instructions, and that is where mistakes begin. A rocket alert in the north says nothing about whether an office in Tel Aviv was allowed to open, and the Home Front Command's restrictions can differ between neighbouring areas on the same day. Keep a dated record of the instructions in force for each employee's home and workplace area, because the protection depends on what was actually ordered, not on how the situation looked from London or Boston. Where the instructions still allowed the work to be done from home, agree in writing who works remotely and how absence will be recorded, instead of sending warnings. Decide your pay policy before the next declaration rather than during it. Many foreign employers pay in full for these days and others offer paid leave, while compensation for indirect losses in earlier operations came through separate government arrangements that may or may not be repeated. Above all, do not let a restructuring that was planned anyway land in the middle of a declared period without advice, because the timing alone will be put forward as evidence of the reason. The wider rules on hiring and employing staff in Israel as a foreign company set the background.

In Practice: Section 2 of the Protection of Employees in Emergency Law 5766-2006 bars dismissal for absence caused by Home Front Command instructions during a special situation declared under Section 9C of the Civil Defense Law, which lasts 48 hours on a ministerial declaration, up to 5 days with the government, and longer only with Knesset committee approval. A dismissal in breach is an offence carrying a fine of up to NIS 29,200 under Section 61(a)(2) of the Penal Law, and the Labour Court can award compensation without proof of loss.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• You want to dismiss, or place on unpaid leave, an Israeli employee whose absences fell within a declared special situation, since in practice you will have to show the decision had nothing to do with those absences.
• An employee relies on the parental protection for a child under 14 and you doubt that the other parent was unable to supervise, which turns on facts that have to be gathered carefully and lawfully.
• The same employee is also a reservist, where the emergency protection overlaps with the separate permit requirement for dismissing someone connected to reserve duty.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

An Israeli employment lawyer can turn Home Front Command instructions into a written absence and pay policy for your Israeli staff and review any dismissal planned during or after a declared period.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.