Tel Aviv Court Rules Ministry of Defense Contractor is Civil Servant
A Tel Aviv court ruled that a carpenter who spent 12 years working via contractors at the Ministry of Defense must be recognized as a civil servant retroactively from 2014.
A Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court has ruled that a carpenter who worked for 12 years in the Israeli Ministry of Defense carpentry workshop must be officially recognized as a civil servant, retroactively from April 1, 2014. The ruling delivered severe criticism against the state, dismissing its claim that the arrangement constituted legitimate outsourcing and determining that the employment method severely infringed upon the worker's rights.
The case dates back to April 2014, when the carpenter was hired to work at the main Ministry of Defense complex in Tel Aviv. According to the verdict, he was interviewed by ministry officials, including the workshop manager, but discovered only after signing employment documents that he was formally engaged through an external contracting firm rather than directly by the state. Over the next 12 years, four different contractor companies rotated sequentially, while the carpenter remained in the exact same role under the direct supervision of ministry management.
The court rejected the state's argument that carpentry services fall outside its core operations, emphasizing that the worker was an integral part of the ministry. Judges pointed out that the contractor arrangement was artificial and designed to bypass labor laws and collective agreements. The court also ordered the state to pay legal expenses and attorney fees totaling 15,000 shekels.
