Social rights are not granted the importance they deserve by the state or employers in the labor market, despite the fact that they are an integral part of work compensation, and are intended to protect workers in times of need: sickness, recuperation, compensation for dismissal and allocation of pension benefits.
Read More
The root of the problem is that the “set wages” – from which the monetary value of social rights are calculated – are not constant. “Set wages” change from sector to sector, from employer to employer, and from worker to worker. On almost every payslip today there are components which are separate from the “set wages” and “add value” to the gross salary, such as bonuses, commissions, and more. Included in this list are also high fictitious payments for travel and car expenses.
This is most apparent in cases where workers receive a high gross salary and their set wages constitute only 50% or less of the gross salary. For a worker who does a lot of overtime, the difference between the gross salary and the set wages is even larger. These workers “pay” a high price when they wish to realize their social rights (i.e. receive compensation for vacation days or pension), especially when their set wage is lower than what they actually earned during their employment.
Required Reform: The widespread phenomenon of not fulfilling social rights has unsurprisingly created a situation in which every third worker appeals to the labor court in order to clarify the issue of “set wages.” This issue can be solved through amendments and legislation and pro-activity to prevent the current situation, which wastes the time of the labor courts and persistently damages workers in the market.
