Time until the plague of pigs in Haifa is eradicated
(90 days from Yona Yahav taking office)
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On Thursday, 1/2/24, the mayor of Haifa Dr. Einat Kalish Rotem decided that Israel Ben Shalom should finish his job as the head of the Haifa Chamber of Corporations and force him to retire. This, after he asked to continue serving in the position for another year. Ben Shalom filed a lawsuit against the mayor through attorneys Mordechai Levin and Lavi Aboxis to the regional labor court. Following the lawsuit, the court decided to freeze the mayor's decision and extend his term until after the elections.
Statement of Claim
The lawsuit alleges that the Mayor prevented the Committee for Extension of Service from discussing Ben Shalom's employment at the Haifa Municipality until the last day of his employment, in order to prevent him from coming to court. The mayor asked the director general of the municipality, who serves as the chairman of the committee, to remove the request from the committee's agenda, and he did so.
In addition to that, the mayor assumed the authority to recommend to the service extension committee as the applicant's direct supervisor, despite the fact that she does not act as the applicant's direct supervisor at all.
It was further claimed that as part of the first application submitted by Ben Shalom to the committee in October (2023), it was the CEO who followed the recommendation of the applicant's direct supervisor and recommended an extension by a year, when at the end of the day the applicant's service period was extended by three months in accordance with the limit that existed at the time - the elections Now, the mayor demanded to submit her recommendation as the applicant's direct supervisor, in order to impose her position on the committee headed by the CEO.
Failure to extend the maximum until 31/5/24 will result in a loss of NIS 100 million
It is also claimed in the lawsuit that the service extension committee, which met on Wednesday 31/1/24, a day before the end of his work, decided to recommend to the mayor by a majority of two (the CEO and the ombudsman) to extend the applicant's service by two weeks only. The treasurer opposed this and demands the maximum extension until Wednesday 31/5/24 in order to prevent a loss of NIS 100 million to the Haifa municipality.
As expected, until the time the application was submitted, the mayor refrained from making her decision, even though it was the applicant's last day at work. For these reasons, Ben Shalom turned to the court and asked to freeze the decision of the extension of service committee and the mayor, according to which the applicant's service should not be extended until another decision is made.
Temporary injunction
As mentioned, the court accepted Ben Shalom's request and issued a temporary restraining order instructing the mayor to freeze the termination of Ben Shalom's employment and his retirement as of Friday 1/2/24. Ben Shalom will continue to serve in his position until the end of the election period, Tuesday 27/2/24. If the mayor is elected, he will finish his term on Thursday 29/2/24. If a second round is decided, he will continue to serve until after the second round and if the mayor is elected again, his work will end on Sunday 31/3/24 and this is due to his being insured with a budget pension.
If Klish is not elected, either Ben Shalom's term will be until 31/5/2024, when the next mayor will be the one to decide whether to extend his term beyond that date.