The Knesset Finance Committee approved this past Monday a second and third reading of a bill allowing employees to refuse to work on Shabbos, even if they are not religious.
There are many plants and work places in the economy which receive dispensations from the Ministry of Finance to operate on Shabbos, as being vital to the economy. The current law establishes that a religious worker may refuse to work on Shabbos.
The new proposal is meant to repair the present situation and establish that any Jewish worker is entitled to refuse to work on Shabbos, even if he is not an observant Jew.
Within the framework of the new law, a committee of ministers shall be set up to deal with the requests of various plants to exclude certain workers from this bill in the event that the company sees that this particular employer's work is absolutely vital and his abstention will cause considerable loss to the company's ongoing operation. This, of course, is altogether contrary to the Halacha.
It should be noted that this bill was drawn up by Knesset representatives from various parties from both the Coalition and Opposition, Left and Right, lead by MK Aliza Lavi from Yesh Atid. Not a single representative from the chareidi parties have signed on this bill since it opens the door, in certain ways, to Shabbos violation.
