The Jerusalem District Court upheld a complaint from three Palestinian Authority (PA) residents against MK Oren Hazan (Likud) Sunday, awarding them nearly 300,000 shekels ($77,193).
Ayman Mohamed Osman, Fawaz Mustafa Kanaan and Jimad Hamad worked in a restaurant in Ariel under a company owned by Hazan between 2006-2012, Maariv reports.
In 2012, the three were dismissed after several months without pay, they claimed, and demanded their wages and severance pay from the court; they also stated that they never received their sick days, paid leave, and pension under law.
The judge, Kamel Abu Kaoud, and public defenders Mira Hazit and Shmuel Rivlin, stated in their ruling that the plaintiffs' testimony was "credible, despite the language gap," and noted that testimony was given through an interpreter; their testimony was also "uniform, continuous, relevant" and that each person's testimony corroborated with the next.
Hazan interrupted several times during the hearing and was long-winded in his answers, they said, and he accused the plaintiffs of smearing his name.
"In contrast, when asked to deal with the difficulties specific to the payment of basic rights and labor law due to the plaintiffs, [Hazan] found himself at a loss, avoided giving a clear answer, and tried to distance himself from the comprehensive complaints against him," the ruling added.