Employees are a key and vital resource worldwide and particularly in Israel, where the success of its industry relies to a great extent on the quality of its workforce. For this reason, effective advice in the field of labour and employment law is critical for all types of clients, both in their "day to day" operations, and in relation to specific events (including transactions, tenders, collective negotiations and disputes, and legal proceedings). In recent years,advice on labour issues has become an essential requirement for the vast majority of both local and international clients. Since in many respects, Israel's labour and employment laws are unique, and characterized by a distinctive local work culture, most international clients understand the critical need for local legal advice and consultation.

HFN’s Labour and Employment Law practice group, headed by Ms. Orly Gerbi, is consistently ranked in the first tier by local and international legal directories. HFN is Israel's largest and leading law firm and clients benefit from the firm’s "one stop shop" concept (covering virtually every commercial practice area), in addition to receiving unparalleled legal advice in the field of labour and employment law (both in Hebrew and in English), from an experienced and highly diversified team.

HFN's Labour and Employment Law practice group provides comprehensive legal advice and creative solutions in all aspects of labour and employment law, including employee benefit and executive compensation plans, to a broad local and international client base, within both the private and public sectors, in diverse industries, including to the following companies: Israel Electricity Company, the Airports Authority, Steimatzky, 013 Netvision Ltd., Starhome (part of the Comverse Group), the Philips Group, VeriFone, the HP Group, Morgan Stanely, the GE Group, and the NDS Group.

Additionally, since Israeli labour and employment law is subject to frequent change and is rapidly evolving, HFN's Labour and Employment Law practice group also provides regular legal updates to its clients and arranges client conferences and seminars on various subjects relating to labour and employment law and practice.

The following is an overview of the HFN’s Labour and Employment Law practice group's typical assignments:

• Ongoing Advice on Daily Employment-Related Matters – Advising on all aspects of employment relations (including drafting and negotiating applicable agreements), such as recruitment, retention, restrictive covenants, equal opportunities in the workplace, adaptation of international HR policies to local law, engagement of service providers, and termination of employment relationship;
• Collective Relations – Advising on all issues arising in the context of collective employment relations, including negotiating, drafting and interpreting collective bargaining agreements, adapting existing agreements to changing circumstances and collective disputes;
• M&A Transactions – Advising on all aspects of labour and employment law in multinational corporate transactions and organizational changes, including due diligence, drafting employment provisions in the transaction documents, advising on the transfer of employees, and preparing special retention and incentive agreements (see also Mergers & Acquisitions);
• International Relocation of Employees – Advising on all aspects of law and practice associated with employee relocation, from Israel to abroad and vice versa;
• Litigation – Representing clients in lawsuits involving individual as well as collective disputes, social class actions, mediations and arbitrations (see also Litigation & Dispute Resolution);
• Employment of Foreign Citizens – Advising on all aspects of the employment of foreign experts in Israel, including guidance in the process of obtaining work authorizations from governmental authorities in Israel;
• Special Employee Benefits and Compensation – Preparing customized executive compensation and incentive programs, stock option plans, and profit sharing plans (see also Employee Benefits / Executive Compensation).
• Pension and Social Security – Advising on the unique area of local pensions and social security entitlements, including tax implications (see also Tax).