The Knesset plenum approved in first reading the addition to the Legal Aid Bill, namely - Legal Aid for Whistleblowers of Corruption, Offenses, Violations of Moral Integrity or Proper Management in Their Workplace, 2014 - by MKs Mickey Rosenthal and Moshe Mizrahi (Labor). This bill was attached to a government bill.
According to the proposal, the supplement to the Legal Aid Law, 5732-1972, should be amended to stipulate that legal aid will be granted without a financial eligibility test in proceedings initiated by an employee, both in the public and private sectors, that concern harm or causing harm to the employee's working conditions because he exposed an act of corruption or improper conduct in the workplace. The amendment to the law will also apply to proceedings that were pending prior to the commencement of the proposed amendment.
The explanatory notes to the proposal state: "The scourge of corruption is an extremely serious scourge that has spread to large parts of the Israeli economy. Addressing this scourge is of paramount importance. Data published in the 2009 Global Corruption Index shows that many Israelis do not trust the integrity of the public sector. 82% of the Israeli public believes that the public sector is the most corrupt sector in Israel, and 86% think that the state's efforts to fight corruption are ineffective.".
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Therefore, the best means of exposing corruption are those honest employees who serve as 'whistleblowers' and who defend with their bodies the proper management and purity of morals. Often, these whistleblowers are forced to pay very heavy prices 'with their own flesh'. The whistleblowers are forced to deal with harassment in the workplace, deterioration of the relationship with the employer, loss of wages and in some cases even dismissal. In order to deal with this unjust discrimination, the whistleblowers are forced to wage long legal battles, which involve extensive financial expenses.".
A state witness does expose corruption, doesn't he?
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnoon) explained that even today there is protection for whistleblowers, but since these are wealthy employers, the whistleblower later finds himself with fewer legal tools after his dismissal, and he cannot defend himself. Providing free legal assistance will actually encourage people to come and say that things are not going well where they work.
The initiator of the private bill, MK Moshe Mizrahi (Labor), noted that from his perspective, he would have preferred to give up on the bill and for it to never come to fruition at all, but reality proves otherwise: "It is precisely those who are complicit in a crime and cross the line who become state witnesses, receive benefits and are granted protection for those who had a part in corruption, while the few public employees who have unimaginable courage are left exposed without protection and are run over in their workplaces and even in their private lives.".
28 MKs supported the proposal without opposition. The proposal will be forwarded to a Knesset committee that will decide where it will be included for second and third reading.
