CrossFit Coach Wins Employee Status Ruling After WhatsApp Firing

A Tel Aviv labor court has ordered a fitness club in Modi'in to pay a CrossFit coach and former manager about 110,000 shekels after finding that he was in fact an employee, not an independent contractor. Judge Doron Yefet held that the 2014 to 2022 relationship between the coach and the club had the hallmarks of employment, despite the parties describing it as freelance work.

The coach said he had been an integral part of the club for eight years and was entitled to social benefits he never received, including vacation pay, recuperation pay and severance. The club argued that he was hired as a freelancer, so ending the relationship over dissatisfaction with his work was not a firing and did not trigger those rights.

The dispute escalated in June 2022, when the club owner sent a WhatsApp message saying, “You are fired,” and accused him of not knowing how to work as part of a team. After that, the coach filed suit asking the court to recognize an employer-employee relationship and award the missing benefits.

Yefet said the legal label used by the sides did not matter as much as how they actually operated. He cited the long duration of the engagement, the coach’s later role as club manager, the fact that he trained on the club’s premises using its equipment, attended social events and team meetings, and received holiday gifts and uniforms bearing the club’s name and logo. The judge also noted that he was paid even when absent from the club and that the arrangement lacked the features of an independent contractor.

Because the court found he worked only part time, it did not award the full amount of the claim. It also denied compensation for the lack of a hearing before dismissal, saying the club had treated him as an independent worker at the time. In the end, the club was ordered to pay 102,748 shekels in compensation, plus 7,500 shekels in legal costs.