A landmark ruling that strengthens protections for whistleblowers in Israel; the Movement for Quality Government in Israel: “This is a significant step in protecting standards in public life”
In a landmark ruling given yesterday, 6 August 2024, the National Labor Court ruled that corruption whistleblower Eli Yerushalmi should be reinstated to his position at the Population and Immigration Authority, from which he was fired about a decade ago following the disclosure of acts of corruption. The National Labor Court, sitting with an enlarged bench of five judges, accepted Yerushalmi’s appeal by a majority opinion, in which he was represented by attorney Eran Golan, and ordered the state to reinstate him within 60 days.
The ruling established as a precedent that the return of a whistleblower to work should not be conditioned in any way, including a vacant position being available or the length of time that has passed since the dismissal. The court emphasized that even after a decade, the passage of time does not prevent the return of the whistleblower to his position. This ruling constitutes a significant change in the attitude towards whistleblowers and considerably strengthens their protection.
President of the National Labor Court Varda Wirt-Livne stated in the verdict that “a person cannot be required to put himself in a situation where he will be harassed and harmed, whether mentally or physically.” It was further determined that the passage of time since the dismissal not only does not constitute an obstacle to the employee’s return to his position, but actually may facilitate his reintegration, since there may have been changes in the original work environment.
Yerushalmi, who worked as a senior coordinator at the Population and Immigration Authority, exposed acts of corruption at the Authority in 2010, including falsifying reports, defects in tenders, and entering homes without a search warrant. Following his revelations, Yerushalmi suffered a pattern of harassment that included attempts at personal harm, filing false complaints against him, and inflating his personal file. He was finally fired in 2013.
Following the dismissal, Yerushalmi appealed to the State Comptroller in his capacity as Ombudsman. The ombudsman determined that his dismissal was unlawful and granted him a protection order. In addition, the ombudsman ordered the payment of special compensation to Yerushalmi of 36 salaries.
Throughout the legal proceedings, Yerushalmi was accompanied by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel which works extensively to promote the rights of whistleblowers. The Movement joined the proceedings as a “friend of the court” and presented to the court the wide-ranging consequences of the case for whistleblowers in Israel. The Movement claimed that it is very important to reinstate whistleblowers to their jobs, and that this is an important message in the fight against public corruption.
Adv. Rachel El-shay Rosenfeld, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, who accompanied Yerushalmi, said in response: “The ruling of the National Labor Court is a significant milestone in the protection of whistleblowers in Israel. The determination that a whistleblower must be reinstated to his job unconditionally sends an important message to all public bodies and strengthens the protection of those who are willing to put themselves at risk for the sake of standards in the public life. We hope that this ruling will encourage more employees to expose corruption without fear, and will bring about a cultural change in which exposing corruption will be perceived as a proper and protected act.”
The ruling sets an important precedent in the protection of whistleblowers and may affect future cases. It emphasizes the importance that the justice system attaches to whistleblowers and the obligation to protect them from harassment. The implementation of the ruling may lead to a significant change in the way public bodies treat whistleblowers and strengthen the fight against corruption in the public sector.
