First publication in Haredim 10: An application was submitted to the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court by Attorney Anat Shani-Rava and Attorney Pini Kalman to approve a class action lawsuit, in the amount of 151,000,000 shekels, against the 'Independent Education' network.
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‘The Independent Education Center, which is controlled by the Degel Hatorah party and other entities, is considered the largest employer in the Haredi community, employing tens of thousands of workers, while operating hundreds of Torah study centers and Beit Yaakov schools throughout the country, fully funded by the state.
This is the second class action lawsuit filed this year against 'independent education'. A previous lawsuit was filed. At the beginning of April, for deducting a monthly 'contribution' of 2% from employees' wages - to an association controlled by 'Independent Education', contrary to the law and without consent.
The petition to approve a claim as a class action was filed on behalf of Elisheva Vint and Shalhavat Dadon - two teachers who claim that they were employed in Independent Education as substitutes for an hourly wage and not according to their grade and standard, even though they were entitled to it, since they worked more than 51 working days during the school year, all in violation of the teaching staff service regulations and the directive requiring payment of salary and allowances as paid in formal education.
""Within this framework, the respondent did not pay the applicants a dormitory allowance as well as provisions for a continuing education fund, to which they were entitled," the lawsuit states. "This conduct was taken by the respondent, according to the applicants' knowledge, towards other teachers employed by him as substitutes.
""The applicants request that their claim be approved as a class action, so that teachers who were and are employed by the respondent as substitutes for more than 51 working days per year will receive provisions for a continuing education fund, and that teachers who are employed as substitutes and are mothers of children up to the age of five will receive a dormitory allowance, in accordance with the scope of their position and the regulations for the service of teaching employees.
""It should be clarified that since, according to the applicants' knowledge, the respondent mainly employs women as substitutes, the request is written in the feminine, but also applies to men employed as teaching staff in substitute status for more than 51 consecutive working days.".
Plaintiff No. 1 is Elisheva Vint, approximately 30 years old, married and a mother of four children, the breadwinner of her family. She was employed by Independent Education as a first-grade teacher at the Beit Yaakov Center School in Tiberias from September 2016 until the end of her employment at the end of 2017. According to the lawsuit, she was unlawfully dismissed without a hearing, and Independent Education is also withholding her salary for the months of March 2020-August 2020.
""In flagrant bad faith, the respondent stopped paying her salary from the moment the schools went into lockdown, even though she continued to teach as usual." She "will assert these personal rights in a separate proceeding subject to a request for the division of remedies.".
Plaintiff No. 2 is Shalhevet Dadon, aged 25, married and a mother of four children, a single breadwinner. She was employed in 2018 at the 'Shuvo' school in Beit Shemesh starting in October 2017 as a sports teacher and later for other subjects including Hebrew and dance, until the end of the school year. Although she was employed as a teacher for various subjects on a significant scale and throughout the entire school year - during which she went on maternity leave between December 2017 and March 2018 - she was paid an hourly wage only and not according to her rank and teaching seniority, contrary to the provisions of the teaching staff service regulations.
She was employed for about a year as a substitute until her unlawful dismissal, after the legally prescribed deadline in August 2018. She was dismissed without a hearing at the end of the 2018 school year. To date, she has not been paid her benefits for the termination of her employment and "she is awaiting final settlement in the hope that she will not be required to file a lawsuit to receive what she is entitled to in this regard.".
According to the lawyers, 'independent education' is "the largest employer in the Haredi public and operates hundreds of schools across the country, as a recognized, non-official educational institution, employing approximately 18,000 teaching staff. As a recognized, non-official educational institution, the respondent is obligated to pay wages in accordance with official education, as stipulated in the regulations of the State Education Law.".
Attorneys Anat Shani-Rava and Pini Kalman claim that the independent education "violated the rights of the applicants, as well as the other substitute teachers employed by it, and did not pay them wages according to their grade and teaching position, even though they were employed for over 51 consecutive working days - with plaintiff 1 working in this manner for years and plaintiff 2 working for 11 consecutive months (including maternity leave). Needless to say, consecutive working days are in accordance with the hours assigned to each teacher.".
According to the lawyers, "This is a systematic conduct on the part of the respondent and a policy, where the respondent employs substitute teachers for years and certainly for long periods, alternating with maternity leave and not once the employment continues for years, but without paying these employees their rights as teaching employees, but rather with hourly employment and according to the terms of employment of substitute teachers for short periods as stipulated in the regulations.".
In the lawsuit, the lawyers state: "Teaching employees are entitled to employer deposits into the training fund from their salary. These deposits amount to 8.41% of the salary, while in the case of a teaching employee employed in a neighborhood rehabilitation area or a development city, the amount of the deposit is 12.61% and includes the employee's portion, which is paid by the employer.
""The respondent pays deposits to the continuing education fund for the teachers employed by him, who are not in the status of substitute teachers. In bad faith, the respondent does not pay substitute teachers employed for more than 51 consecutive working days deposits to the continuing education fund despite their entitlement to do so.".
The lawsuit further states that "teaching workers who are mothers of children under five years old are entitled to receive a dormitory allowance in accordance with the scope of their position, up to a full-time position. The same applies to teaching workers whose spouses are not entitled to a dormitory allowance from their place of work.".
""The dormitory supplement currently stands at 315 shekels for the first child for a full-time position and 213 shekels for the second child, in accordance with Ministry of Finance circulars and an annual update.
""The respondent pays a dormitory supplement to eligible teachers who are not employed as substitutes. In bad faith, the respondent does not pay substitutes who are employed for more than 51 working days a dormitory supplement despite their entitlement to it.".
The lawyers are asking the court to approve the claim of the two teachers, and "to approve them as representative plaintiffs, to define the group of eligible employees as the group of substitute teachers employed for more than 51 days a year and, accordingly, who are parents of children under five years old, to determine the method of calculating compensation for each employee for each cause and to award financial compensation for the financial relief due to each employee for the causes or to order the granting of other relief in favor of the group or part of it, to order that the group's representatives be Adv. Anat Shani-Rava and Adv. Pini Kalman, to order the publication of a notice of the claim and to award compensation to the representative plaintiffs and their attorneys.".
According to the statement of claim, Plaintiff 1 is entitled to employer contributions to a continuing education fund of at least the salary actually paid to her - and in fact to higher amounts in light of her entitlement to teaching staff salary according to her rank and seniority - in the amount of 8,415.46 shekels.
Plaintiff 2 is entitled to employer contributions to the continuing education fund from the salary actually paid to her in the amount of 2,097.51 shekels.
In addition, Plaintiff 1 is entitled to a 'dormitory supplement' in a cumulative amount of 11,554.75 shekels for the period from August 2014 until the end of her employment in August 2020.
Plaintiff 2 is entitled to a 'dormitory supplement' in a cumulative amount of 2,489.31 shekels for her period of employment.
The lawyers write: "On November 1, 2020, an appeal was made to the respondent on behalf of Applicant No. 1, which was not responded to. It should be noted that in a previous proceeding, and after receiving a warning letter, the respondent attempted to create evidence out of thin air, supposedly claiming that the violation of the workers' rights was done by agreement and with their consent after years of unlawful deductions.
""Therefore, there was no choice but to submit this request to correct the serious injustice to the workers, the substitutes who are employed illegally and in serious violation of their rights.".
How many facts were harmed by this conduct of 'independent education'?
According to the lawyers, "The respondent employs approximately 18,000 teaching staff, an estimated one-fifth of whom are substitutes. Most of the substitutes are employed on a permanent and/or continuous basis and for more than 51 days per year. Therefore, the relevant group size is an estimated number of 3,600 employees annually.".
""The represented group will therefore include all employees who were employed by the respondent in the seven years prior to the filing of this application as substitutes for more than 51 working days per year.".
The lawyers emphasize that "all the data regarding the members of the group is in the possession of the respondent, and can be easily retrieved. Therefore, the respondent should be required to provide the applicant with all the data necessary for an accurate calculation of the size of the group and the amounts due to each employee. Under these circumstances, the applicant's calculations are based on estimates.
""According to an estimated average salary for substitutes of 3,000 shekels per month, based on a deposit of 8.4% per month, and this is on the low side, since as stated for employees in localities that are entitled to a full deposit, this is a higher amount, the amount of the claim is estimated at at least 76 million shekels for the last seven years.".
""It is worth noting that although the scope of the claim is ostensibly large, for each teacher it is not a significant scope and the size of the claim stems from the large number of teachers employed by the respondent.".
The lawyers continue to estimate that the amount of the claim for the 'dormitory addition' is estimated at approximately 75 million NIS for the last seven years.
In the lawsuit, the lawyers emphasize that "this is a serious violation of workers' rights, widespread and comprehensive - and specifically against the weakest, new workers whose status is unstable...
""Therefore, approving this application will advance the goals of the Labor Court in creating deterrence and promoting appropriate enforcement against the respondent and employers like him.".
""These are very basic obligations that were systematically violated towards the substitute teachers employed by the respondent for relatively low amounts per employee; in components that may become obsolete if not claimed and hence a net profit for the violating employer; in amounts that are easy to calculate, in weak, unorganized workers, who are unaware of their rights and are even afraid to stand up for their rights against the respondent, the main employer in the Haredi education system.".
