Last update - 00:00 24/08/2007
Security firms oppose demands they report lawsuits against them
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent
The security companies association Thursday rejected demands that firms report lawsuits by security guards or officials for breach of labor laws the preceding year. According to the licensing committee for private investigators and security services, such reporting will be necessary for companies to renew their licenses for 2008.
The association called the demands illegitimate and threatened to petition the High Court of Justice unless the committee revoked them.
The licensing committee instructed the companies this week to produce a statement within 30 days listing the suits filed against them this year. The statement must be issued by the companies' accountant, owner or manager.
The companies were also required to produce a document from the Industry, Trade and Employment Ministry listing the legal procedures that had been taken against them since January. A delay in producing the documents would affect the license renewal date, the committee said in a statement.
"These conditions are totally unrelated to the issue itself, which is granting a business license," said the security companies' association director-general, Pini Schiff. He said it was like conditioning the renewal of someone's driving license on evidence he has paid alimony to his ex-wife.
Schiff said the demand for a list of pending suits was unfair because it was possible the court would reject them.
"Are they going to refuse licenses on the basis of a suit that may be dismissed?" he asked.
Kav LaOved (Worker's Hotline) has demanded in the past two years that Hashmira Group's license not be renewed due to the hundreds of suits filed against the company. The committee renewed the company's license, but said that in the future the company would have to prove it paid its workers' pensions and detail the suits against it.