Case Number
HCJ 4542/02
Date Decided
3-30-2006
Decision Type
Original
Document Type
Full Opinion
Abstract
Facts: The government of Israel adopted a policy of allowing foreign workers to come to work in Israel. The residence permits given to the foreign workers are conditional upon the foreign workers working for a specific employer (‘the restrictive employment arrangement’). Consequently, if the worker leaves his employer, he automatically becomes an illegal alien, and is liable to be arrested and deported. The petitioners attacked this policy, on the grounds that it violates the dignity and liberty of the foreign workers. It also undermines the bargaining power of the foreign workers in the employment market. The respondents replied that the restrictive employment arrangement is needed in order to ensure supervision of foreign workers in Israel and to make sure they leave Israel when their period of work ends. The respondents also argued that they have introduced a procedure for changing employers, but the petitioners claimed that this does not amount to a real change in the system.
Held: The restrictive employment arrangement violates the dignity and liberty of the foreign workers. This violation does not satisfy the requirement of proportionality in the limitations clause in the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. There is no rational connection between the restrictive employment arrangement and its declared purpose of supervising the foreign workers in Israel, as can be seen from the ever increasing number of foreign workers that remain illegally in Israel. The restrictive employment arrangement is not the least harmful measure that can be adopted. It is also disproportionate in the narrow sense, because the sweeping violation of the rights of the foreign workers is not proportionate in any degree to the benefit that is derived from the restrictive employment arrangement.
Petition granted.
Keywords
Administrative Law -- Discretion, Constitutional Law -- Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, Employment -- Rights of Foreign Workers, Labor -- Rights of Foreign Workers
Included in
Administrative Law Commons, Constitutional Law Commons, Labor and Employment Law Commons
