People in the show business

The artists whose workplace ceased its activities due to the coronavirus, and whose work has ceased operations, may be entitled to unemployment benefits.

Eligibility for unemployment benefits will be examined in accordance with their compliance with the general conditions of entitlement to unemployment benefits, and the additional eligibility conditions listed here.
This page presents a list of special guidelines for this category of employees.

Those who returned to work are asked to notify us. For online notification, click here.

For more information about the rights of the self-employed in the field of culture (such as lighting designers, cameramen, sound engineers, costume designers, make-up artists, production assistants, etc.) - click here.

Which artists may qualify for unemployment benefits?

Artists working in artistic or entertainment shows or employed such as show director, comedian, singer, recitalist, reader, musician, conductor, dancer, pantomime, acrobat and magician. This involves any show in one of the above category intended to be recorder or filmed (excluding cases of recording or filming for advertisement purpose).

Artistic job – is a job under a 3-month work agreement, at least, in above mentioned artistic fields, or else an agreement for a series of at least 5 shows within 12 months.

For example, if you have performed in Hanukah holiday and had an agreement for at least 5 shoes or an agreement for rehearsals and shows for a 3-month period at least, the months covered by your agreement will be recognized as artistic occupation.

Required qualifying period

In order to obtain unemployment benefit, you must accrue 12 months of work within the last 18 months of artistic occupation or as a salaried employee.

Due to the Corona crisis, you may receive unemployment benefits if you have a qualifying period of at least 6 or 10 months over the last 18 months - click here to learn more.

If you are missing some months of artistic occupation to reach 12 months out of the last 18 months, you can replace them with other periods as outlined in this link.

Please note, if you have worked even a single day in a month, this will be regarded as if you had a full month of work. In other words, if the agreement covered a period between September 5 and December 5, this would be recognized as a 4-month period – September, October, November and December.

Registration with Employment Service

After registering, you must follow the instructions of the Employment Service regarding in-person reporting at Employment Service Centers.

How to submit a claim for unemployment benefits to the National Insurance Institute

In order to shorten the time of treatment of the claim, we ask you to submit to us a claim for unemployment benefits (BL/1500) online on the website.
On the claim form, under the section "main occupation - field of work", you must indicate your occupation and add next to it that it is according to the Insured Classification Order.
We advise you to subscribe to the Personal Service website, to be able to follow the status of your claim online.

What documents should be attached to the claim?

To unemployment claims submitted for unemployment period starting from 1.7.2020, the following documents must be attached:

• Actor declared as salaried employee: must make sure that his employer has sent a Form 100 to us, mentioning the date and cause of work stoppage.
  If the employer is unable to issue a Form 100, he must be asked to complete a Form 1514 - Employer authorization of employment period and pay.
  The form needs to be attached to the claim or sent to us through the website.
• Actor not declared as salaried but covered by the Classification of Insured Persons Order, needs to attach the following documents:
  - Form 806 or 857 for fiscal year 2019 – those who worked without pay slips but with invoices/receipts, should ask the entity they worked with for a 806 or 857 form for 2019, mentioning the amounts deducted for national and health insurance contributions.
  - Authorization for fiscal year 2020 - you must ask the agents you have worked with for a written authorization, including a list of all months of employment, and mentioning wage for each month and source deductions for national and health insurance contributions.

Amount of unemployment benefit

For a quick and easy calculation of unemployment benefit according to your income, use our unemployment benefit calculator.

One must enter into the calculator all the sums you were paid by the agents you worked for that same month, as detailed in Form 857.
For more information about benefit rates, click here.

Please note, your income as self-employed will be deducted from your unemployment benefits.
Based on the 857 forms you have sent us, will be determined out of the annual tax assessment, the income from which insurance contributions were deducted as salaried employee, and the income as self-employed. Income as self-employed will be deducted from unemployment benefits over the year.

For guidelines to the self-employed, click here.

Period of eligibility for unemployment benefits

The number of days for which you can receive unemployment benefits varies according to your age and family composition – for more information see this link.

If during the period of entitlement to unemployment benefit, you returned to work part-time, as a self-employed covered by the Classification of Insured Persons Order, you are obligated to notify us.
You have to attach a statement of work start and work termination, and produce the documents according to the options below:

• Authorization from the agent you worked for, including: details about the month of work, level of monthly wage, deductions of insurance contributions and number of days of work.
• Your personal statement regarding the payment you have received and the number of working days each month.

This payment will be deducted from your unemployment benefits. The documents may be sent to us via the website.

Who to contact?

For any questions about reporting to Employment Service, you should contact the Employment Service.
If you have any questions regarding claim submission, you can contact our call center at *6050 or send an online inquiry directly to your branch.