By Hanan Habib-Allah, Kav LaOved Arabic SpokespersonKhala and Samia are cleaners in two different hotels in the north. They reached the Nazareth office separately, with no previous connection, but have remarkably similar stories. The two women both have three years of experience and both were employed on an hourly basis with pay at minimum wage. Both women were dismissed, and for months they demanded severance pay from their employers, but to no avail.The two workers sought assistance from Kav LaOved for one thing: receiving severance pay. However, their pay slips showed the grim reality of additional violations carried out by their employers of denying their protective rights under Israeli labor law and their rights under the hotel expansion order. Given the fact that their employers had paid them without abiding to the conditions of the hotel expansion order, Kav LaOved calculated the amounts Khala and Samia were supposed to receive, which were hundreds of dollars more than what they were paid. In addition, both women were entitled to severence pay; hence, their claims to receive payment were submitted to Labor Court. Recently, we held an Arabic media campaign that targeted workers in sectors in which there is a specific expansion order, entitling them to additional rights beyond Israeli labor law (including the hotel industry, construction, security, etc.). Various Arab workers contacted Kav LaOved, enquiring about their rights in relation to the expansion orders. These requests clearly illustrated that employers regularly breach the provisions of the orders.Various expansion orders intend to provide an additional safety net for specific workers to ensure that they receive their rights as well as maintain economic stability. We at Kav LaOved wonder if these words will only remain on paper if the workers themselves do not know of the existence of these orders and of their own rights. If real enforcement of these laws is carried out, then many more workers will receive the rights that they deserve.
23-07-2013
