Tens of tens of thousands of shekels a year for judges: record highs in the judicial system

After the public service payroll report is published, Walla's request is exposed! NEWS and the Freedom of Information Movement list the record of wages in the justice system. The top president has earned about NIS 90,000, and at the top of the list is the former Labor Court judge who received 116,000. And how much do the Supreme Court employees earn? All the data

Tens of tens of thousands of shekels a year for judges: record highs in the judicial system

(In the video: Publication of the Salary Report at the Government Offices for 2018, yesterday)

Judge Ronit Rosenfeld (Photo: The Judiciary)

Following the release of the civil service payroll report, which did not include data on the justice system, the numbers are being revealed Wednesday at Walla's request! NEWS and the Freedom of Information Movement. The figures show tens of thousands of shekels a year, which also reach more than 21,000 shekels. In the list of the hundred highest judges with the highest average gross salary, the numbers ranged from NIS 65 to NIS 116,000 per month, with the salary of the Supreme Court president being NIS 90,000.

Yesterday, the Knesset Wage Commissioner, Kobi Bar Natan, published the Salary Expenditure Report at the Government Offices for 2018. From a thick volume of publications and research, data on three groups of civil servants remain missing: Knesset housing workers, the state comptroller and the judges. This is because, exceptionally, these groups are the only ones that the treasury payroll does not set. This is different from the IDF, the police, the health funds, the local government and the universities. Instead, their remuneration is determined by the Director General of the Knesset, the Director of the State Comptroller's Office and the Finance Committee for Judges, respectively.

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With salaries of more than NIS 80,000. Supreme Court (Photo: Noam Moskowitz)

Supreme Court, Jerusalem (Photo: Noam Moskowitz)

Judge Orenstein (Photo: Yossi Tsipkis)

From 1995-2015, the judges' wages jumped more than twice, with no additions and seniority. In addition, the prestige linkage also bumps veteran judges' wages. As of December 2018, the number of employees in the court system was 4,301, and the number of judges and registrars was 816, and the list includes Supreme Court justices, district court judges as well as judges from the national and regional labor law. The payroll, according to the list, is retired judge Ronit Rosenfeld of the National Labor Court, whose salary was NIS 116,449 a month.

Alongside the judges, the list of other employees of the highest-paid justice system, including administrative and chief secretaries, is also published. Among the record highs in this category, which earn between NIS 33,000 and NIS 46,000 a month, include the Chief Secretary to the Supreme Court, the Jerusalem District Court Administrator, the Senior Supreme Court President and the Deputy Chief of Defense and Special Offices.

18 engineers earn NIS 109,000: pay gaps in civil service

The cost of tens of thousands of shekels. Judges Live, Vogelman and Waiter in Supreme Court (Photo: Bernie Ardov)

Justice Esther lives on hearing whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could form a government under indictment, Supreme Court December 31, 2019 (Photo: Bernie Ardov)

Wages of more than NIS 116,000 to judge the National Labor Court (Photo: Megad Guzni)

National Court of Labor in Jerusalem, October 2011 (Photo: Megad Guzani)

Judge Handel (Photo: Eyal Yitzhar, Globes)

Since the salaries in the judicial system are not visible to the public, it took a whole year before the court administration responded to the request for freedom of information submitted, revealing the record highs among the judges. At the same time, it is unclear how wages have evolved over time - whether it has risen or decreased, whether judges are rising or falling, what gender pay gaps are, and what gaps between minority workers and Jewish workers are. The published figures do not even state what the cost of the court personnel's employment and the size of their budget pensions are.

Only recently, regional and national court judges have criticized the state's conduct regarding the employment of workers, discrimination between women and men or between minorities and Jews, and demanded transparency. But even though the wage data in the judicial system has been published - the transparency that the judges are talking about, does not exist when it comes to the cost of their employment and pensions.

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