Labor Law — Employee Rights
Bereavement Leave in Israel —
Your Entitlements
Israeli law entitles employees to fully paid bereavement leave when a close family member passes away. Adv. Liron Elmaliach explains how many days you are owed, which relatives are covered, and what to do if your employer does not honour the law.
Statutory Bereavement Leave Under Israeli Law
The Bereavement Leave Law grants every employee in Israel seven consecutive paid days of leave upon the death of a first-degree relative — a spouse or recognised partner, a child, a parent, or a sibling. For more distant relatives (grandparent, grandchild, parent-in-law, sibling-in-law), the entitlement is one paid day. All days are paid at the employee's regular wage rate.
The leave period begins on the day of death and runs consecutively. Shabbat and recognised Jewish holidays that fall within the bereavement period are counted toward the seven days — they do not pause the clock or add extra days. This means that if a death occurs on a Thursday before Rosh Hashana, the holiday days are included in the statutory count and do not extend the total leave beyond seven days.
Bereavement leave is entirely independent of other leave entitlements. An employer is prohibited from deducting bereavement days from annual vacation leave, sick-day balance, or any other accumulated leave. The law is clear: bereavement leave is a separate right and must be treated as such.
Employers have an obligation to inform employees of this right proactively. An employee should not need to claim or negotiate for statutory bereavement leave. If your employer has failed to grant the full entitlement or has deducted the days from another leave balance, you are entitled to restitution.
Additional Considerations — Probation, Friends, and Collective Agreements
Bereavement during probation: The statutory right to bereavement leave applies from the first day of employment — there is no minimum seniority requirement. An employee in their first week of work is entitled to the same seven days of paid bereavement leave as a long-serving employee. An employer who refuses to grant bereavement leave on the basis that the employee is "still on probation" is acting unlawfully.
Mourning a close friend: Israeli statute does not provide a paid bereavement entitlement for the death of a close friend who does not fall within the defined family categories. This is a gap in the law that affects many employees. However, collective bargaining agreements — which apply to broad sectors of the Israeli economy — sometimes grant one or more additional bereavement days for friends or extended family. Your employment contract or HR policy may also include such a provision. It is worth checking both sources before concluding that no entitlement exists.
Collective agreements extending the minimum: Many collective agreements in Israel extend the statutory minimum — for example by granting additional days for grandparents, or by specifying that Shabbat and holidays do not count toward the bereavement period. If a collective agreement applies to your workplace or sector, it may significantly improve on the statutory floor described above. A labour-law attorney can identify which agreements apply to your employment and what they provide.
Employer's duty to notify: Under Israeli employment law, employers have a good-faith obligation to inform employees of their rights — including bereavement leave entitlements. If you were not informed of your right at the time of bereavement and consequently lost days that should have been granted, you may have a claim for damages against your employer.
Frequently Asked Questions — Bereavement Leave in Israel
Answers to the most common questions about mourning leave and employee rights
Questions About Your Bereavement Leave Rights?
Free initial consultation — know your rights today
Adv. Liron Elmaliach — Labor Law, Jerusalem