Equal Employment Opportunities Law
Age Discrimination at Work in Israel
Claims and Compensation
Fired or passed over for promotion because of your age? Adv. Liron Elmaliach advises employees on age-discrimination claims under Israeli law — from gathering evidence to pursuing statutory damages and compensation.
Age Discrimination Law in Israel — Equal Employment Opportunities Law 5748-1988
The Equal Employment Opportunities Law 5748-1988 is the cornerstone of anti-discrimination protection in the Israeli workplace. It prohibits employers from discriminating against employees or job applicants on the basis of age — as well as gender, religion, nationality, political views, marital status, parenthood, sexual orientation, and several other protected characteristics.
Age discrimination is unlawful at every stage of employment: advertising and recruitment, hiring decisions, setting terms and conditions of work, assigning duties, granting promotions, providing access to training and professional development, and dismissal. An employer who treats an older worker less favourably in any of these areas — because of their age — violates the law.
The law covers both direct discrimination — treating someone worse explicitly because of their age — and indirect discrimination, where a neutral-seeming policy or criterion disproportionately disadvantages older workers without objective justification. For example, a blanket requirement that candidates be within ten years of graduation may be indirect age discrimination.
On the question of mandatory retirement, Israeli law sets the age at 67 for both men and women. Forcing an employee out before that age — through dismissal, pressured resignation, or constructive dismissal — may give rise to both wrongful-termination and age-discrimination claims simultaneously.
Proving Age Discrimination and Claiming Compensation
One of the most employee-friendly features of Israeli anti-discrimination law is the shifting of the burden of proof. Once an employee presents a prima facie case of discrimination — showing facts that make it plausible their age played a role in the adverse decision — the burden shifts to the employer to prove that the decision was made on legitimate, work-related grounds alone. This mechanism recognises that direct evidence of discriminatory intent is rarely available.
If the employer cannot discharge that burden, the court may award statutory (non-pecuniary) damages of between NIS 50,000 and NIS 188,000 per incident — without requiring the employee to prove actual financial loss. These damages are intended to deter discrimination and acknowledge the dignity harm suffered.
Beyond statutory damages, an employee may also claim back pay for income lost as a result of the discrimination (for example, a promotion or pay rise withheld), and standard wrongful-termination payments including notice pay and severance pay. In rare cases where the relationship has not irreparably broken down, courts may also order reinstatement.
Where an employer engages in systematic age discrimination — for example, a company-wide policy of not hiring workers over a certain age — a class action may be the appropriate vehicle, allowing a group of affected employees to pursue a joint claim. Israeli courts have approved such class actions in employment discrimination cases.
Frequently Asked Questions — Age Discrimination at Work
Answers to the most common questions about age discrimination claims in Israel
Think You Were Discriminated Against Because of Your Age?
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Adv. Liron Elmaliach — Employment Law, Jerusalem