The disgraceful exploitation of thousands of substitute teachers for extended periods in the schools of the Independent Education network - is leading to a new, fifth class action lawsuit against the ultra-Orthodox network.
These are thousands of teachers who perform their duties with dedication and loyalty, often for years, but their salary is determined on an hourly basis only - just as the salary of substitute teachers is determined on a one-time basis.
As first revealed On the Haredi website 10 A year and a half ago, a request was submitted to the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court to approve a class action lawsuit against Independent Education for a whopping 151,000,000 shekels. The request was filed by Attorney Anat Shani and Attorney Pini Kalman, on behalf of two Haredi teachers who worked as substitute teachers at Independent Education.
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
In the application, the two substitute teachers claimed that they had been employed by the 'independent education' for over 51 days, but were paid a fixed hourly wage, and not according to their seniority. As a result, they did not receive the 'training fund' and 'dormitory allowance' to which teachers with a standard are entitled.
However, it now appears that the class action lawsuit against the 'Training Fund' and 'Dorm Fees' was not the end of the story in the case of the exploitation of substitute teachers: Today (Thursday), Attorney Reuven Biton and Attorney Yaakov Biton filed a motion to approve an additional class action lawsuit, as stated, the fifth in two years against 'Independent Education', regarding the rights of teaching staff.
The request for approval of a new class action lawsuit was filed with the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court on behalf of two substitute teachers. According to the claims in the request for approval, the two teachers claim that they were employed by Independent Education as substitute teachers in permanent positions over extended periods, but received their wages based on a fixed hourly wage.
As a result, they claim, they were not paid salary increases, contributions to the Gal fund, and salaries for the months of July and August.
According to the claim in the request for approval, which is based, among other things, on the state's position first published in Haredim 10, according to which they are entitled to the full rights of teaching staff, this conduct constitutes a violation of the Teaching Staff Service Regulations and the directive requiring payment of salary and allowances as paid in formal education.
If this procedure is approved by the court and bears fruit, it would ostensibly involve an additional payment of tens of millions of shekels to more than 3,000 substitute teachers in independent education.
First published less than a month ago On the Haredi website 10, because the state's position as submitted to the court is that in all matters relating to the employment conditions of substitute teachers for extended periods, they are entitled to the full rights of teaching employees.
The state's position, in itself, may be important news for many substitute teachers, who, although they are called 'substitutes', are in fact teachers for all intents and purposes.
