Eliran Atar filed a huge claim against Maccabi Tel Aviv for the sum of 1,380,469 NIS to the Regional Labor Court in Bat Yam for pension provision, non-payment of severance compensation and wage differentials.
Atar, who filed the lawsuit through lawyer Shay Elias, claims severance pay in the amount of 660,917 NIS and another amount of 420,866 NIS for the provision for a pension fund. In addition, Atar claims another NIS 28,000 for an offset from the plaintiff’s salary for disability insurance and another NIS 256,666 for an increase in salary withholding and tax payments.
A player of Bnei Yehuda claims that Maccabi Tel Aviv violated his employment agreement: “When it became clear to the plaintiff after reviewing the payment that there were salary differences – he is not entitled to the compensation stipulated in the agreement.” He claims that Maccabi Tel Aviv violated Atar’s cogent rights, when he did not legally retire and did not pay the compensation payments.
According to the lawsuit, it appears that Atar’s base salary for the 2017/18 playing season was $325,000 net, and the salary for the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons was $390,000 net. Also, according to the lawsuit, Atar had a championship bonus of $20,000 and a trophy winning bonus of $10,000.
The lawsuit claims: “The plaintiff was a central player in the group and a leader in it. Just to illustrate the importance of the plaintiff to the team, in the 2017/18 season he scored 7 goals, in 25 league appearances. In the 2918/19 season he scored 12 goals in 30 appearances in the league, and won with the team the Premier League championship in football, the most important championship in Israeli football.”
It is further stated that “a review of the plaintiff’s employment agreements and/or salary slips reveals that the defendant did not legally set aside pension payments during the entire period of the plaintiff’s employment, as will be detailed below in detail within the scope of this lawsuit. Worse, when she retired, the defendant offset her share of the pension payments from the plaintiff’s salary, in violation of the law and ignoring the fact that it is a cogent protective law, which cannot be conditioned upon.
“The plaintiff contacted the defendant several times but to no avail, including in a letter dated November 11, 2020, sent by his attorney, who received a dishonest response from the defendant on December 23, 2020, through a letter in which everything stated is a malicious attempt by the defendant to completely shirk her obligations The legality towards the plaintiff as his employer in accordance with cogent protective laws.
If that is not enough, as part of this dishonest reply letter, the defendant even admitted not to refer to the ruling of the honorable national court, slapped the plaintiff with scum and even ‘threatened’ the plaintiff with taking proceedings against him only because the plaintiff insists on his cogent rights, which he will return as part of a statement of claim This”.
In fact, Atar sent his demands to Maccabi Tel Aviv back on 11.11.2020, but was answered in the negative in a letter sent to him by the club on 12.23.2020. After Ater did not give up and sent another letter, Maccabi Tel Aviv sent a letter to his lawyer Shay Elias on 7/25/2022 and did not change its position regarding the striker’s demands.
In the letter, lawyer Ido Levin stated: “My client’s answer that was sent to you over a year and a half ago – remains the same. I have nothing but to repeat what was said in our letter of 12.23.2020. My client does not owe me anything. He paid him his full rights according to law and according to his employment, and even above and beyond that, and I find it appropriate to return and remind you of the disclaimer signed by Marshech while receiving significant compensation.”