Employees of Bank of Israel receive special bonuses such as payment for an extra 40 work hours a week, a thirteenth month salary, "efficiency fees" and "presentation fees".
Bank of Israel employees receive payment for an extra 40 work hours a week (worth NIS 2,500) and a thirteenth month salary. A "Globes" investigation has found that the salary on which pensions are based includes items such as lunch (NIS 658 per month), newspapers (NIS 110 per month).
Bank of Israel employees also receive monthly 12.5%-21% "presentation fees" and 28-34% "additions to framework agreement" bonuses. These bonuses are given to Bank of Israel employees as part of a special salary contract signed in the early 1970s. The "Globes" investigation reveals that such bonuses are not acceptable in the public sector today.
In the report issued last week by the Ministry of Finance director of wages Yuval Rachlevsky, Bank of Israel was not included in the list of public sector institutions deviating from set wage limits in 1998. However, Rachlevsky decided to make an in-depth investigation of Bank of Israel salary conditions, in part because of suspicions that there were dozens of cases in which salaries deviated from set limits.
Data obtained by "Globes" reveals that 14% of Bank of Israel employees are paid NIS 29,000 per month or more. The average reimbursement on expenses for a Bank of Israel senior executive is NIS 5,000 per month, or double the average among public sector executives.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on February 27, 2000.