MK Talli Gottlieb, possibly the most vociferous member of the House, on Monday, submitted a bill allowing government ministers to fine an employee who commits a disciplinary offense up to NIS 1,500 ($401) and suspend them from work without pay for up to three working days.
The bill’s explanatory notes say it is intended to enhance warnings issued by a minister and his or her CEO: “To improve the deterrent effect in the public service, and at the same time preserve the right of an employee to a disciplinary procedure, it is proposed to give the minister or the CEO additional punishment powers to those currently stipulated in the law.”
The bill provides an answer to the ministers’ difficulty in dealing with disciplinary issues in their offices. “Adding disciplinary measures to the minister’s powers will address the difficulty arising from the fact that the handling of disciplinary complaints takes a long time, and will ease the burden on the disciplinary department of the civil service which will be able to deal more quickly with complaints on a higher level of severity.”
A first-term Likud MK, Gottlieb has been accused of anti-feminist views, and she is often condemned in public for having represented, as defense attorney, many rape suspects. In 2012, Gottlieb applied for an appointment as a judge but was disqualified for her deficient “judicial temperament.”
