Shlomo Sixt Ordered to Pay $4.7 Million to Employees for Pension and Leave Violations

The Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court has ordered car rental company Shlomo Sixt to pay approximately 4.7 million shekels (about $1.3 million USD) to its employees. The court ruled that the company had deprived employees of their pension rights and vacation days for over a decade.

According to the ruling, Shlomo Sixt delayed pension payments for new employees, starting them only after a trial period, which violated the applicable collective agreement. The company also failed to include sales commissions in pension calculations and did not grant employees an annual "choice day" off, as stipulated by the industry's collective agreement.

Testimony included cases like Meir Sapir, a driver who claimed his pension rights were violated from his first month, and Lior Weisblatt-Mizrachi, who worked in the business department for nearly a decade and earned more from commissions than her base salary, yet her pension was calculated solely on the base pay. The court noted that even a small commission, like for a car seat, was considered part of the salary for pension contributions, making the company's argument about negligible commissions unconvincing.

Shlomo Sixt argued that the collective agreement was no longer valid and that sales commissions did not constitute "work wages" for pension purposes, but these claims were rejected by the court. The court found the company had breached its obligations and ordered it to cover the missing contributions and payments.

The company's claims that retroactive payments would harm its financial survival were also dismissed, with the court stating they were unsubstantiated. An initial estimate of 4.7 million shekels was set, with a court-appointed expert to determine the final individual amounts, potentially expanding the group of eligible employees until July 2024.

Shlomo Sixt stated they are studying the ruling and considering an appeal to the National Labor Court.