Migrants claim nonprofit not paying severance

Ezer Mizion, the health support organization, has been withholding severance pay from migrant workers it dismissed, Haaretz has learned.

The nonprofit group, which provides much-needed services - from bone marrow donation campaigns to renting subsidized medical equipment - runs a company that provides caretakers, mostly migrant workers, to patients in need. These patients are considered to be the direct employers, but the workers' pay and social rights - such as holiday, sick and severance pay - are funded by the National Insurance Institute.

The Worker's Hotline for the Protection of Worker's Rights told Haaretz that it had received a large number of claims that Ezer Mizion was withholding severance pay, often amounting to thousands of shekels, from caretakers who have been laid off or resigned, or whose direct employers have passed away. The funds instead remain with the company, and the workers then resort to suing the direct employers or their relatives.

This practice contradicts NII regulations, which state that "a migrant worker is entitled to all social rights ensured by law, including national insurance, sick pay, holiday pay, recovery pay and compensations. The latter include severance pay. If a migrant worker terminated his employment with the elderly person for whatever reason, and no longer works for the same company, he must be given severance pay for the period he worked with said person." The NII noted in November 2008 that a caretaking company had to give severance pay "even in circumstance where severance pay is not ensure by the Severance Pay Law."

Geraldine Olivyo, from the Philippines, had been working for a senior citizen in Bnei Brak for two years, until her employer passed away in October 2008. "After two years in Bnei Brak I wanted to work somewhere else. I found work in Petah Tikva, but the nonprofit told me that I wouldn't get severance pay if I didn't stay in Bnei Brak. I didn't find it easy to stay there, but I did. It's thousands of shekels that can really help, I only make 750 dollars per month."

"We have received 15 such cases since the beginning of the year," said Ann Soccio, migrant workers coordinator at the Worker's Hotline. "In all these cases, and probably in many more that just didn't get to us, Ezer Mizion is pocketing funds given to it by the NII to pass it on to the workers. It's sad to see that an organization that presents itself as nonprofit is getting rich on public funds, and that the Institute does not monitor the situation tighter. This is appears to be a pattern of behavior for the nonprofit, as whenever we approached it we received negative replies or were ignored."

The NII said in a statement that "caretaking companies are obliged to provide the social rights of their workers as stated in the Caretaking Law. These rights include severance pay. We contacted the company as soon as we received this information from Haaretz, and requested explanation, while stressing to the nonprofit the importance to maintain the workers' rights."

Ezer Mizion said in a statement: "After examining many requests by caretakers [we] decided several weeks ago to grant severance pay to the migrant workers, even though they terminated their employment on their own accord, under circumstances not covered by severance pay law.

"We must note that giving severance to workers who resigned on their own carries grave risks for the elderly. If the workers know they will receive severance pay no matter what, they might change companies too often, even if their employers have already become attached to them. The caretaking company operated by Ezer Mizion works without profit consideration and centers on nothing but the well-being of the elderly."