Workplace cameras in Israel: what employers may and may not do

Adv. Tal Yulzari · 7 October 2026 · Privacy at work

An employer in Israel may install cameras at work on three conditions: it has a legitimate, defined purpose, the filming is proportionate to that purpose, and employees know about it in advance. Covert cameras, audio recording and using footage for another purpose are, as a rule, prohibited.

That is what the Privacy Protection Authority's Guideline 5/17, “Use of surveillance cameras in the workplace and in employment relations” (in Hebrew), says. It was published on 17 October 2017 and supplements the Privacy Protection Authority's general guideline on security cameras, Guideline 4/2012. These guidelines are interpretation, not law, but the Privacy Protection Authority continues to rely on the workplace cameras guideline after Amendment 13.

A purpose defined in advance

Under the guideline, a camera may be installed only for a legitimate purpose that is essential to the business, such as security, protecting property or even supervising discipline, or where the law or a competent authority requires it.

The purpose is also the limit on how the footage is used. If you installed an entrance camera for security, as a rule you may not use its footage to log employees' breaks. And evidence obtained through a deviating use like that may be excluded under section 32 of the Privacy Protection Law, 1981.

Where cameras go

Where the camera is placed carries decisive weight. Filming in toilets or changing rooms is so severe an intrusion that it is hard to conceive of any organisational interest that could justify it.

In a personal office or at a workstation, constant monitoring is justified only for a purpose of real public importance, or where the benefit to the employer significantly outweighs the intrusion on the employee. And in any case, only with the employee's knowledge. In ordinary office work a camera like that is usually hard to justify.

In the staff kitchenette and dining room, a camera is allowed only for a most essential purpose and in a limited form. In corridors, entrances and areas open to the public, filming is more reasonable, provided it is proportionate and employees know about it.

There are places where a camera may be justified, such as a production line, a cash room or a warehouse holding valuable stock. But everywhere, you first ask whether a less intrusive means exists. If you do install a camera, you keep its coverage, the number of cameras, the filming hours and the resolution to a minimum.

Transparency towards employees

Under the guideline, transparency towards employees is a precondition to any monitoring. So the employer needs a clear and detailed policy explaining how cameras are used and for what purposes. It must draw up that policy, where possible after consulting employees or their representatives, present it to employees on an ongoing basis and refresh it from time to time.

The policy covers the items listed in Annex B to the general guideline. Among them: which areas are filmed, whether footage is recorded, for what purposes, how long it is kept, who is responsible for viewing it, and how to ask to see it. The minimum means of notice is a legible sign near the camera.

Audio recording and covert cameras

The general guideline prohibits using surveillance cameras to record sound except in accordance with the Wiretap Law, 1979. A covert camera that records sound may breach that law, which is a serious criminal offence.

In an employee's private space, the rule is that the employee may not be filmed without their knowledge, and no covert camera may be installed, even for a legitimate purpose. An “in-principle consent” from employees to covert filming in their offices would not pass the proportionality test. And a camera hidden from customers must still be known to employees.

The exception is narrow. In internal areas not open to the public, covert filming is possible only in highly exceptional circumstances. There must be a concrete and real suspicion of a serious criminal offence, or of prohibited conduct causing the employer very serious harm, and no other way to prevent it. Even then the filming is targeted and limited in time and area. The Privacy Protection Authority recommends taking such a decision to senior management for approval and obtaining a reasoned legal opinion in advance.

Viewing, retention and security

Under the guideline, a collection of recordings of employees is usually a “database” under the Privacy Protection Law, and the general guideline sets out what that requires. Only people who need to know may view the footage, and those authorised give confidentiality undertakings. Every access to the footage is logged. And footage may not be passed to anyone unconnected with the organisation or the purpose, unless the law permits it.

The guidelines set no number of days for keeping footage. You keep it only as long as it is needed, according to the purpose and the sensitivity of the information, and automatic deletion at the end of the period is recommended.

Employee consent

An employee who signed a “camera consent” form has not settled the matter. Under the guideline, consent in an employment relationship does not necessarily reflect free choice, because of the imbalance of power between employee and employer. In the Privacy Protection Authority's words (our translation of the Hebrew original):

“It follows that the validity of an employee's consent to an infringement of their constitutional right to privacy, including to the collection or use of information by an employer, likewise does not carry much weight.”

Under the guideline, the principles the National Labour Court laid down in Isakov (Labour Appeal 90/08 Tali Isakov Inbar v. State of Israel), in a judgment of 8 February 2011, also apply to cameras. Those principles are a legitimate purpose, proportionality, using information only for the purpose for which it was collected, and a policy communicated to employees clearly and in detail. In the same judgment the National Labour Court required consent to monitoring of personal correspondence to be explicit, informed and freely given, and set different limits for each type of mailbox.

In a work mailbox, the employer may monitor under a policy communicated to employees. But it may access the content of personal correspondence there only in exceptional circumstances and with the employee's explicit prior consent. In a mixed mailbox, or a personal mailbox the employer provided, there is no monitoring of personal correspondence and no access to its content. An exception is possible only in exceptional circumstances, after less intrusive means, and with explicit consent plus specific consent to each access. And in the employee's own private mailbox, such as Gmail, there is no monitoring and no access without an order from a Regional Labour Court, which will be granted only in rare cases.

In 2025 the National Labour Court set similar rules for cameras, in Friedman (Labour Appeal 41179-01-24). The more severe the intrusion on the employee, the more explicit the consent required, and for a lesser intrusion notice is enough. For a camera in a toilet stall, even explicit consent will not cure the intrusion. In that case two cameras were aimed at an employee's workstation without her consent. She resigned and was held entitled to severance pay, even though the cameras' purpose was accepted as legitimate.

Biometric time clocks

Biometric attendance clocks have a separate Privacy Protection Authority policy document, dated 15 February 2024, in a version updated following Amendment 13. Under that document, where there is no statutory authority, an employee may not be required to provide biometric data without their consent. If the system is proportionate, the employer may ask the employee for that consent, and a refusal may affect the employment relationship.

But consent is “necessary but not sufficient”. In other words, it does not legitimise a disproportionate system. The Privacy Protection Authority recommends offering employees a non-biometric alternative.

Employer checklist

To put all this into practice, these are the steps worth taking:

• Write a policy covering the details above, show it to employees and give it to every new employee when they are hired.
• Put a sign by every camera, and tell employees before the cameras go live and whenever something changes.
• Draw up a camera map showing each camera's location, angle and coverage. There are no cameras in toilets or changing rooms, and no camera is aimed at the entrance to the toilets.
• Decide who is authorised for each type of action, and log every viewing, copy and deletion of recordings.
• Set a retention period in days according to the purpose, with automatic deletion at the end.
• Appoint one role-holder who approves new cameras, viewing of recordings and their disclosure.

Employee Privacy