Reserve Service

 The appropriate authorization from the IDF or from the Ministry of Labor’s emergency personnel unit must be attached to the claim.

The National Insurance Institute is entitled to deduct a debt for insurance contributions from the reserve service benefit.

Deduction of National Insurance and health insurance contributions, income tax, payments to a provident fund and pension funds, differentials for self-employed workers.

A person discharged from the career army who serves in reserve duty during the 90 days after his discharge is entitled to a reserve service benefit according to his career army income, provided that he began his first reserve service within 60 days from the date of discharge and less than 60 days elapsed between the end of his first reserve service and the beginning of the next.

After 90 days have elapsed from the date of discharge, he will be entitled to a benefit according to his pre-service status, like any other claimant.

On April 2, 2008, the Knesset passed the new Reserve Duty Law, which includes an amendment to the National Insurance Law regarding reserve service benefits. The law applies to anyone who begins reserve service on August 1, 2008 or later.

Below are details of the amendments to the law granting benefits to reservists:

Someone who submits a claim for the reserve service benefit but has lost Form 3010 should contact the Town Major or the Chief of the Personnel Management Corps, Personnel Section (IDF), to obtain a replacement form - form 3021.

• Independently on a personal claim form, which must be submitted at the end of the reserve service to any local branch of the National Insurance Institute. The completed form can also be sent to the NII local branch by mail.
• Through the employer, in accordance with the worker's status.
• Through the internet site.

Phone answering service for army reservists is available for persons who submit a claim independently and for employers.

Below are the conditions of entitlement for a person who served in reserve service as prescribed by law, a person who performed one-day service or half-day service, a person who underwent training as prescribed by the Emergency Labor Service Law, and a working youth who participated in pre-military educational activities:

Reserve service in accordance with the Defence Service Law.

A single period of reserve service duty of not more than one day.

Military reserve service of up to 6 hours, including traveling to the place of the reserve service and back.

The daily rate of the benefit is the gross salary (for a salaried employee) or income (for a self-employed worker) – subject to National Insurance contributions – or a combination of both (for someone who is both a salaried employee and a self-employed worker) in the 3 months that preceded the first of the month in which the reserve service began, divided by 90.

Under the amendment to the Reserve Service Law, as of August 1, 2008 the formula for calculating the benefit has changed.

      A person who is entitled to an unemployment benefit during the period of his reserve duty receives a reserve service benefit of at least the rate of the unemployment benefit that he would have received had it not been for the reserve service. Unemployment benefits are not paid for the period of the reserve service.

     A person who is entitled to both a reserve service benefit and a work injury allowance must choose one of the two benefits.

If you meet the conditions of entitlement for more than one benefit from the National Insurance Institute, you can check whether you can actually receive both benefits or only one of them, by means of this calculator.

The National Insurance Institute reimburses employers for the reserve service benefits that they pay to their employees as prescribed by law. To receive the refund for the benefits, an employer must submit a claim on the form Employer’s claim for reimbursement of reserve duty benefits to the local NII branch in which his insurance contributions account is managed. The National Insurance Institute calculates the benefit according to the salary reported in the claim and adds the cost-of-living increment.

The benefit due to the employee from his employer is considered the same as salary, and the employer must pay the benefit at the time of payment of the regular salary. An employee is entitled to submit a complaint under the Wage Protection Law against an employer who delays or refuses to pay the benefit.

The employer must send the claim to the National Insurance Institute as early as possible, and report on the period of the reserve service as it appears on the military form, without splitting up the service period.

In order to improve our service for IDF soldiers serving in the IDF reserve, the National Insurance Institute has introduced an automatic answering service operating 24 hours a day: 02-6463010.

The answering service is meant for army reservists who submit claims for benefits, as well as for employers who pay the benefits to employees who serve as reservists.