In March 2015, having waited four years for their severance pay, seven drivers of the E. Ditsy Trucking Company in Haifa received NIS 330,000 through the office of the Bankruptcy Fund of the National Insurance Institute (NII). Lawyers Yifat and Libat Somech represented both the workers and their union, WAC-MAAN. In a parallel case, four employees in a subsidiary company, Tsadok Agricultural Services, which was in the process of filing for bankruptcy, were granted NIS 80,000 in compensation. The workers and WAC MAAN were represented by the law firm Ehud Shiloni.
In August 2010 the owners of Ditsy sent dismissal letters to seven drivers. The background was this: Anticipating the bankruptcy, and as a result of several times when the seven had sought the help of WAC-MAAN, The drivers appealed to the Court to address the issue of the pay they were owed. Then came the dismissal letters, which stated that they were being fired for having filed a lawsuit against the company. In response, WAC-MAAN appealed the Haifa Regional Labor Court, which forced the employer to cancel the letters and make good on the severance pay. When owner Eliyahu Ditsy claimed he was in debt and unable to keep the seven, the judge ordered him to shut down his company and take upon himself the expenses of the bankruptcy procedure so as not to incur further debt at the workers’ expense.
A few months later Ditsy fulfilled the judge’s order and then turned to the District Court in Haifa to announce the company’s bankruptcy. However, a long delay ensued, involving countless phone calls, and WAC-MAAN decided to shift the case to Law office of Somech. WAC-MAAN has worked frequently and successfully with this office in Haifa. For a year, Yifat and Libat Somech sought to have the NII cooperate with regard to the severance pay. Recently they were notified that most of the workers’ claims have been approved and that the money has been been paid.
