Legal Updates

Employment of employees without financial ability of the corporation may result in personal liability ‎of the shareholder of the company

November 16, 2016
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An Eritrea citizen was employed as a dishwasher in a Kosher café in Israel and demanded his rights as an employee not only from the company but also from one who served as a director and shareholder in it. Among other rights it was demanded payment for the Jewish holiday days in which the employee did not work despite the fact that he is Christian and therefore such days are not holidays for him.

The Court held that, after three months of employment an employee is entitled to payment for holidays and in the case of an hourly employee this applies if her is not absent on the day before the holiday and the day after. In circumstances where the employee worked regularly in accordance with the working arrangement established by the employer, a presumption is made that he is entitled to holidays payment and the burden of proof that he was absent from work the days adjacent to the holiday without the consent of the employer is on the employer. In this case the employer did not present reports showing absence before and after the holiday and therefore the employee is entitled to full payment.

As to lifting of the corporate veil, the duty of good faith requires the employer to adjust the employment to accommodate the company's financial capacity. Lack of financial capacity may be grounds for imposing personal liability on the owners of the company that employed the employees. Non payment of the employee's social rights alone is not grounds for piercing the veil and because in this case it was not proven any fraud, mixing of properties or misuse of the corporate veil by taking an unreasonable risk as to its ability to pay its debts the case against the owner and director was dismissed