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Court Rules Pension Funds Discriminate Against Widowers

By Haim Bior, Haaretz 

October 19, 2004


Steve Adler, President of the National Labor Court, and a panel of judges ruled on Monday that current widow pension allowances are discriminatory. (Haaretz)



The National Labor Court ruled on Monday that pension fund rates which alloted lower allowances to widowers than those paid to widows are discriminatory.

The court granted the Knesset and the pension funds a year to equalize allowances paid to spouses of those deceased and to change pension fund laws and regulations

The Labor Court's decision came after Uri Fidelman, whose wife Tzipora died in March 1997, appealed to the court to receive an allowance identical to the sum a widow would have received.

Tzipora Fidelman, who had worked as a teacher, received a pension from the Mivtachim Havatika pension fund. 

According to the fund's Ordinance 35, widows unable to provide for themselves receive 40 percent of the spouse's salary, whereas the sum alloted to widowers was set at 50 percent of the wife's pension. In real terms, the law entitles Fidelman to an allowance equal to 20 percent of his deceased wife's salary. 

In November 2000 the Knesset enacted a law put forward by Histadrut labor federation chairman, MK Amir Peretz (One Nation) that equalized pension rights for widows and widowers. But this equality, as the judges stated in their ruling, was short lived. Its application was delayed by the Arrangements law and it was finally abrogated by the treasury's economic reform program. 

Fidelman initially turned to the District Court to protest the regulations he believed were sexually discriminating and contradicted the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom. The court rejected the case saying he received an allowance in accordance to pension fund regulations. Fidelman later appealed to the National Labor Court.

The court panel, headed by President Steve Adler, ruled unanimously that equality was fundamental to Israel and to democracy. "Equality in the work place and equal treatment
of all employees are entwined in appropriate work relations in the modern era," the court stated in its ruling.

The judges stated that pension fund policies "are discriminatory in a manner which is unacceptable." The court said at the root of the discrimination was the assumption that the husband's income was higher than that of the wife's, and that the husband bore the main responsibility for supporting the family. The wife's death, in consequence, would entail smaller financial difficulties than the husband's death would.

The Labor Court ruled that Fidelman was entitled to an allowance of 40 percent of his late wife's salary.

The court also ruled that Ordinance 35 was not valid since it contradicts the principle of equality. It said, however, that the ordinance will expire only in a year's time or when alternative legislation is agreed upon.


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