Treasury, Histadrut agree parents who stayed home from work with children during escalation of rockets will receive full wages.
By NADAV SHEMERChildren take shelter from rockets in a sewage pipe 390 (R)(photo credit: REUTERS/Baz Ratner)
Working parents forced to stay at home during this week’s rocket attacks on the South will receive their wages in full, the Treasury and the Histadrut labor federation agreed on Wednesday.Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz ordered that public sector workers not have vacation days deducted for staying home this week. He instructed his staff to find a similar solution for workers in the private sector, based on data that private employers are expected to provide the Treasury in the coming days.Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini, Treasury wages director Ilan Levin, and representatives from chambers of commerce, the Tax Authority, the Federation of Israeli Economic Organizations, the Manufacturers Association and the Union of Local Authorities met on Wednesday morning.They agreed to formulate a plan to ensure that working parents of children under age 14 would not have vacation days deducted if classes were canceled for security reasons in the future. They also agreed to discuss compensation for business owners affected by the violence.School resumed in the South on Wednesday after rocket attacks from Gaza kept students at home the previous three days.But the Beersheba municipality announced that most schools would be closed Thursday after two rockets exploded in the city Wednesday.The Home Front Command made the decision to send children back to school as an informal cease-fire between Israel and Gaza factions led to relative calm.According to the Histadrut, the various representatives reached an understanding that one parent of each child instructed to stay at home would be entitled to compensation.It said the parent who stayed at home would need to declare to his employer that his partner had not also applied for compensation. The parent will receive the wage in full, and the Tax Authority will reimburse the employer.Eini expressed satisfaction with the result of the meeting, saying, “I hope that in the coming days a joint collective agreement will be signed among the Histadrut, private employers and the Treasury so that the workers – who in any case are affected by the rockets – do not also suffer damage to their livelihoods.”Meanwhile, acting Tax Authority director Doron Arbeli and Steinitz agreed on Wednesday to give residents of the rocket-affected areas until March 25 to make value-added tax and early income tax payments.The deadline for everyone else is March 15.Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.Click here for special JPost coverage
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