Shabbat work sparks clash between labor minister and opposition

Minister Ben-Tzur launches enforcement campaign against businesses employing Jewish workers on their weekly rest day, while Lapid challenges the crackdown as unnecessary.

 Big Fashion Glilot (photo credit: Lior Teitler)
Big Fashion Glilot
(photo credit: Lior Teitler)

The Labor Ministry has launched an operation enforcing working hours and rest laws at Big Fashion Glilot, the ministry announced on Wednesday. 

"Labor laws in the State of Israel are not a recommendation; they are a civic duty to preserve workers' rights," Minister Yoav Ben-Tzur said in a statement on X/Twitter.

The Labor Ministry’s Regulation and Enforcement Administration examined multiple businesses at the Glilot mall, and found that 21 workers had experienced rights violations, including 13 Jewish workers who were found to be employed on their weekly rest day.

 (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
(credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)

"The Working Hours and Rest Law in the State of Israel clearly state that it is strictly forbidden to employ Jewish workers on Shabbat without special permission,” Ben-Tzur stated. 

“I will not allow monopolies to exploit workers from vulnerable populations in violation of the law. Accordingly, the enforcement division at the Labor Ministry has increased enforcement against employers who violate the law. As Labor Minister, my policy is clear and decisive. In the Jewish state - neither Shabbat nor workers' rights will be trampled upon."

For every violation of employment during weekly rest, the Labor Ministry can impose a sanction of over 40,000 NIS or file an indictment.

"There's no need to close BIG in Ramat Hasharon on Shabbat, just as there's no need to open a mall in Bnei Brak on Shabbat,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said in response to Ben-Tzur.

“Live and let live. Stop interfering in the lives of secular people; there is no reason in the world to close the complex on Shabbat."

Ramat Hasharon ruled that the complex could not open on Shabbat

The legal advisor of the Ramat Hasharon Municipality ruled that the Big Fashion Glilot complex cannot operate on Shabbat.


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The decision came after significant public backlash from senior ultra-Orthodox figures, who harshly criticized the complex in a strongly worded letter because of its Shabbat operations.