Tel Aviv Labor Court Dismisses Bullying Lawsuits Against Kolmobil
A Tel Aviv labor court dismissed lawsuits by three former Kolmobil sales reps alleging workplace bullying, ruling claims lacked evidence. Plaintiffs must pay legal costs.
The Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court has dismissed three lawsuits filed by former employees of the Kolmobil automotive group, who alleged workplace bullying by their department manager. Judge Ariela Gilzer-Katz ruled that the plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence to substantiate their claims and ordered them to pay tens of thousands of shekels in legal costs.
The plaintiffs—a man and two women who worked as sales representatives in Kolmobil's car insurance renewal call center—resigned between 2022 and 2023. They claimed they were subjected to continuous threats, humiliations, and financial sanctions by their department manager, including the deliberate transfer of clients between employees to reduce their commissions. The male plaintiff alleged he was humiliated during team meetings, mocked for his personal background, and that the manager prohibited colleagues from attending his wedding. The stress, he claimed, caused constant fear and hair loss, ultimately forcing him to resign.
One of the female plaintiffs stated that the manager refused to approve vacations, forced her to work while ill and during unpaid night shifts, and that the resulting stress triggered early labor contractions during her pregnancy. A second female colleague added that she was required to work following surgical tooth extractions and suffered relentless criticism that caused psychological harm.
Kolmobil denied all allegations, asserting that the manager acted professionally and objectively. The company maintained that the employees resigned due to personal reasons, including dissatisfaction with their salary and employment conditions. Furthermore, management explained that reallocating clients among representatives was designed to ensure policy continuity during absences. Judge Gilzer-Katz concurred, ruling that most of the employees' claims remained general assertions lacking adequate evidentiary support. She emphasized that subjective feelings of distress—however genuine—are insufficient to prove workplace bullying, which must also be evaluated objectively.
Regarding allegations of forced work during illness, the court determined that employees were merely asked to provide system access credentials for backup purposes rather than perform actual work. WhatsApp correspondence presented to the court indicated considerate behavior by the manager, with one message reading: "Get well, and please do not work from home until further notice, certainly not when you are sick." Claims regarding public humiliation, health damage, and punitive client transfers were similarly dismissed for lack of proof. The verdict noted that none of the three plaintiffs mentioned workplace bullying in their resignation letters.
Despite dismissing the lawsuits, Judge Gilzer-Katz identified a procedural flaw in Kolmobil's handling of the matter, noting that the company failed to present documentation showing a thorough investigation into the employees' complaints. The court stressed that even when bullying claims are unproven, employers have a legal duty to investigate them seriously and document the process. Consequently, each of the three plaintiffs was ordered to pay 7,000 shekels in legal fees, alongside an additional 1,000 shekels in legal costs awarded to Kolmobil.
