Israeli Court Approves Class Action Against Rami Levy Supermarkets Over Wage Deductions

A Jerusalem Labor Court has approved a class-action lawsuit against the Rami Levy supermarket chain, alleging that the company illegally deducted cash register shortages from employees' wages. The court found a reasonable possibility that the case will be decided in favor of the cashiers.

The lawsuit was initiated by former cashiers Meir Edri and Baruch Shaaltiel, who claim that when discrepancies were found in their cash registers at the end of a shift, they were sometimes forced to cover the shortfall, with the amount deducted from their salaries. They argue this practice violates the Wage Protection Law and are seeking to halt such deductions, recover funds already taken, and restore any affected social benefits.

Rami Levy argued that cash shortages could be considered a debt, especially when the employee signed off on the deduction. However, the court rejected this interpretation at this stage, stating that a shortage does not automatically constitute a debt that can be directly deducted from wages. The court emphasized that the law's deduction mechanism is intended for clear, undisputed debts, not for situations requiring an investigation into the cause and responsibility for a shortage.

The ruling noted various potential causes for register discrepancies, including transaction errors, incorrect change, counterfeit bills, or simple distraction, none of which necessarily imply intentional misconduct by the cashier. The class action will include cashiers who worked for the chain within the seven years preceding the lawsuit's filing and meet the court's criteria.

As part of the decision, the court ordered Rami Levy to pay NIS 25,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs' attorneys and NIS 8,000 to the representative plaintiffs.