At the end of the employment period specified in the agreement, a human resources company ceased to employ a pregnant employee without applying for a work termination permit.
The Labor Court accepted the employee's contention for unlawful termination after determining that the employee was employed for an indefinite period. Israeli law prohibits an employer from terminated a pregnant employee without first obtaining a termination permit from the Minister of Industry, Trade and Employment. A fixed term employment contract has unique and unusual legal implications. For this reason, it must be ensured that a personal employment contract for a fixed term as mentioned, will be unequivocal, and clearly reflect the parties’ informed consent regarding the obligations they assume. Any ambiguity in this matter will, therefore, tip the scales in the favor of the contract being construed as an indefinite term contract. Here, an Eritrean citizen executed an employment contract in Hebrew and Tigrinya with a human resources company stipulating that her work would be for a 9 months term. However, the precise dates were inserted only in the Hebrew version, the contract did not specify that the employment period is with the manpower company and not with the actual employer and neither was it specified that at the end of that period the employment relationship would expire. The accumulation of the above makes it difficult to conclude that the parties have mutually committed to a rigid work period of nine months and therefore the rule that in case of doubt the agreement will be construed as an indefinite work period agreement - applies. Hence, the employee's employment period did not end of its own accord and the termination of her employment during pregnancy and without obtaining a duly issued termination permit constitutes a violation of the law.