Parental leave for fathers, and time without calls from the boss: 4 employee rights that exist in the world, but not in Israel

Nitzan Zvi Cohen reviews four employee rights implemented in Western countries but absent in Israel: equal parental leave for fathers, the right to disconnect from work during leisure time, the right to request flexible or remote work, and worker representation on boards of directors. The article argues that advancing them requires expanding the political and economic discourse.

Nitzan Zvi Cohen, a labor affairs reporter for Davar, presents four employee rights that exist in Western countries but are completely absent from Israeli law. The first is equal parental leave: in Sweden, 90 days are reserved exclusively for the father, and in Spain, each parent is entitled to 16 weeks of full pay. The second is the right to disconnect – France enacted it in 2017, Portugal in 2021, and Australia recently joined. The third is the right to request part-time, flexible, or remote work – existing in the Netherlands since 2000 and expanded in the UK in 2024. The fourth is worker representation on boards of directors – in Germany, workers elect one-third to one-half of the board in large companies. In Israel, however, these rights are not anchored in law and are subject to the employer's discretion. The article calls for updating the rules of the game through organized labor and collective agreements.

Parental leave for fathers, and time without calls from the boss: 4 employee rights that exist in the world, but not in Israel