this law, if it passes will stop Hotzaah Lapoel, the bailiff's office for debt collection, from taking action against deadbeats in the 3 days prior to any Israeli holiday.
Eichler explains in his proposal that most people who are in debt and in the process of hotzaa lapoel are people who are unable to pay and are in trouble - not (mostly) people who just don't want to pay and need to be taught a lesson. For the most part the purpose of hotzaa lapoel is to collect money owed that was not being paid because they could not pay. That being the case, taking such action against these people in debt so close to a holiday is causing disproportionate damage to them, as there would be no chance for them to then scrounge up enough money during the holiday period.
Eichler also proposes that for the Muslim community the law should also take into account their holidays.
source: Knesset
seems generally reasonable to me.
I wonder whether this would apply to privately held debt or only state-held debt. Meaning, the law can easily make the government wait a few more days to collect its money from unpaid taxes and the like. Can Eichler really make a law that would make a private person wait to collect his debt because a holiday is coming up - maybe the person owed money also has a shortfall of money for the holiday season and needs the debt paid for his own private use of his money.
Also, if it includes private debt, would this only apply to the State-run Hotzaa Lapoel office or would it also apply to private collection agencies?
Also, I wonder, what holidays would be included in this? Just the big three - Pesach, Shavuos and Sukkos? What about Hanukkah and Purim? Tu b'Shvat? What about Yom Haatzmaut? election day?
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What about Ramadan :-)
ReplyDeleteThe law will probably apply for legal holidays i.e. when businesses are closed.