The Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court has ordered a control systems company to pay its former technology manager about ₪509,000 plus interest. Between February and June 2025 he served in the reserves and received no salary at all. Bituach Leumi paid the company the reserve duty compensation for his days of service, and the company kept it. The ruling, in case 15196-07-25, was given by Senior Judge Kamel Abu Kaoud and published on 30 October 2026.
Any employer with a staff member on reserve duty is exposed to the same rule, including a business with a single employee. The money Bituach Leumi pays for reserve days lands in the employer's account, but it belongs to the employee.
Five months without pay
The employee earned ₪55,000 a month, later cut to about ₪37,000. Nothing was paid to him during the months he served. The court found that the company breached a series of basic duties toward him: it withheld wages for months and used Bituach Leumi money that was meant for him.
The mechanism works like this. When a salaried employee is called up, Bituach Leumi calculates the compensation from his average income over the three months before service and reimburses the employer. The employer is expected to keep paying the salary as usual. An employer who holds on to the reimbursement leaves the employee with no income while he is in uniform.
Where ₪509K comes from
The biggest item is the five months of unpaid wages, about ₪177,900. The court added about ₪59,400 in pension contributions and roughly ₪1,500 for a further pension component. Severance top-up came to about ₪83,400, and unused vacation to about ₪137,500.
The company also never gave him payslips, which cost it ₪15,000. Another ₪25,000 was awarded for emotional distress. On top of the total, the company pays ₪3,000 in court costs and ₪35,000 in legal fees.
The claim also named the company's manager and its controlling shareholder. The court dismissed it against both, so the whole liability sits with the company.
A pension base cut during service
The company had also lowered the salary figure it used for his pension deposits. The court held the change invalid. Changing the terms of an employee on reserve duty, in these circumstances, requires a permit from the Employment Committee, and the company never asked for one.
The Discharged Soldiers (Return to Work) Law bars dismissing an employee because of reserve service. It also bars cutting his job scope or pay during service and for 30 days afterwards, unless a permit has been granted.
Paying an employee who is called up
An employer that receives Bituach Leumi's reimbursement for reserve days has to pay the salary on the regular payslip, on the regular date. The Labor Ministry treats failing to pass the compensation on as a breach of the Wage Protection Law. That law also requires a detailed payslip by the 9th of the following month, and a labor court may award compensation for a breach without the employee proving any damage.
Any change to the pay, job scope or pension deposits of an employee who is on reserve duty, or who came back less than 30 days ago, needs a permit first. An employee whose compensation never reached him can apply to Bituach Leumi directly and ask for the payment.
In this case, a reimbursement that was never passed on turned into a judgment almost three times the size of the unpaid wages.