Judgments in the case of Rasmi
- Similar to its position before us in the present petition, the state argued in the Haifa Regional Court that the claim should be dismissed out of hand because the court has no substantive jurisdiction to hear it. Official, according to the claim, he is an elected official, and there is no employee-employer relationship between him and the Council, and therefore the authority to hear the issue of his salary is reserved only to this court sitting as the High Court of Justice. This position was also shared by the local council. The Regional Court (the Honorable Justice M. Spitzer) suggested that the claim against the State be dismissed, since in any case it is not the employer of the Official, and its decision not to approve the payment of his salary is in line with the relationship between the local government to the central government. The state did not agree to the proposal and insisted that the only court authorized to hear the matter was the High Court of Justice. The Regional Court did not accept this position. The main anchor on which the court's decision rests is the rule established inAdditional Hearing High Court of Justice4601/95 Seroussi N' The National Court, פ"4:52(4) 817 (1998) (hereinafter: the Matter Seroussi). We will return to this halakha in detail below.
Based on the Seroussi The court held in our case that in the relationship of the Official And the local council has a "normative duality." In all matters related to The Status of an elected official, such as election and termination of office, he should not be considered an employee, and therefore if this were the case, there would be room to dismiss the lawsuit out of hand. However, the current claim is for payment of wages. "... And this is in our opinion the 'aspect of the working conditions' of normative duality - in this regard - the plaintiff should be regarded as an 'employee', the Council as his employer, and the Labor Court - the authority holder in our case." Therefore, the motion to dismiss the claim in limine was rejected (p. 13 of the judgment) (hereinafter: The Original Judgment).