Israel vacation days calculator

How many vacation days you get by seniority

Two sources set the number of days: the Annual Leave Law, 1951, and the extension order on introducing a shorter work week. The law counts gross days, which include one weekly rest day for every seven days of vacation. The order counts work days, net. Where they differ, the employee is entitled to the higher number. The tables show work days as published by the Ministry of Labor, including the amendment in force since 1 January 2017.

In years 1 to 5 the law gives more. From year 6, wherever the order applies, the order gives more: 17 days in a 5-day week and 19 in a 6-day week, and from year 9, 23 and 26. The law alone stops at 20 and 24 work days.

When the extension order does not apply

According to the Ministry of Labor, the order covers most employment in Israel, except:

• A workplace with fewer than four employees.
• Employees and employers whose move to a 5-day week was set in a collective agreement.
• A government company or a municipal company.
• An employer the supervisory committee decided the order does not apply to.

In these cases only the law applies; untick the extension order box in the calculator. Workers employed through a staffing agency have a table in a separate extension order, from 2.8.2004:

Work year, partial year and proration

A work year under the law is a calendar year, 1 January to 31 December (section 1). The year you started is your first year of seniority, even if you started in November. Within each year, what counts is the number of days actually worked (section 3):

• You worked the whole year: from 200 work days you get all the days. Below 200, a proportional share: days worked divided by 200.
• You worked only part of the year: from 240 work days you get all the days. Below 240, days worked divided by 240.
• A fraction of a vacation day is not counted, so the result is rounded down.

Three worked examples

An employee who started on 1 March 2021, in a 5-day week: 2026 is their year 6 of seniority. The law gives 14 days and the order 17, so they get 17 days.

An employee who started on 1 September 2026, in a 5-day week, has about 85 work days until the end of the year, after holidays. That is fewer than 240, so she gets 12 × 85 ÷ 240, which is 4 days for 2026. From 2027 she is in her second year.

The Ministry of Labor’s own example: an employee in year 5, in a 6-day week, employed the whole year but actually working only 150 days. 14 × 150 ÷ 200 is 10.5, so he gets 10 days.

Vacation pay and payment for unused days

Vacation days are paid at the regular wage (section 10). For a monthly salaried employee that is the salary they would have received had they kept working. For hourly or daily paid workers it is the average daily wage: the pay for the quarter before the vacation divided by 90, times the number of vacation days. An employee who leaves without using their vacation receives payment equal to the vacation pay (section 13). A paid worker who worked fewer than 75 consecutive days gets no vacation days but a payment of at least 4% of wages instead (sections 4 and 15). Claims under the law expire after three years (section 31).

What the calculator does not cover

• Employees under 18. Section 27 of the Youth Labour Law gives minors longer vacation, but it refers to the old wording of the Annual Leave Law, so the calculator does not cover them.
• Extended vacation. Some jobs, such as work with ionising radiation, glass manufacturing and certain hospital professions, have longer vacation under regulations. Industries such as agriculture, metal, electricity and electronics have their own agreements and extension orders.
• Money. The calculator counts days, not pay.

Days follow the Annual Leave Law, 1951, and the shorter work week extension order, as published by the Ministry of Labor; the employee is entitled to the more favourable of the two. This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

• Ministry of Labor (gov.il): rules for calculating vacation days, including the proration examples
• Ministry of Labor (gov.il): vacation days by seniority under the law, the extension order and for staffing agency workers
• Ministry of Labor (gov.il): vacation pay and payment for unused vacation
• Annual Leave Law, 1951: sections 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 15 and 31