Dear Clients and Friends,

We wish to update you regarding an amendment to the Law for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment, 5758-1998, which expands the obligations of an employer under the law to cover employees of contractors providing services to the employer.

The Law for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment is intended to address, among other issues, occurrences of sexual harassment in the workplace. Towards this goal, various obligations applying to employers were set out, including an obligation to establish effective means of filing a complaint of sexual harassment; an obligation to handle cases of sexual harassment effectively; and other obligations, including an obligation to publish regulations regarding the prevention of sexual harassment and how cases of sexual harassment are handled.

Until recently, the application of the law was expanded to employees of manpower contractors placed at workplaces. However, this expansion of the law’s application did not apply to employees of service contractors.

In an amendment to the Law published on July 25, 2024, its application was expanded such that the law will now also apply to the users of services, receiving services through a contractor. The definition of “service” in this context is broad and applies to any service received from a contractor through employees. At the same time, the scope of the prohibition on harm resulting from sexual harassment, enshrined in the Equal Employment Opportunities Law, 5748-1988, was expanded to employees of service contractors.

This Amendment to the Law expanding the scope of its application to include employees of service contractors, will take effect on January 25, 2025.

The Amendment to the Law sets up transitional provisions, under which, until regulations are enacted on this matter, the existing rules for an employer carrying out its obligations as they apply to manpower contractor employees placed at a workplace will also apply to employees of a service contractor.

Please note: Workplaces employing more than 25 employees are obligated to establish regulations regarding the prevention of sexual harassment and the handling of complaints. In light of this Amendment to the Law, these regulations should be amended to include reference to their application to employees of a service contractor.

We are available to you for any question you may have or clarification you may need, including those regarding the amendment to the Regulations for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment and implementation of other changes required in light of the Amendment to the Law.

Labor and Employment Law Department

Herzog Fox and Neeman