The NIS 97,500 judgment by the Jerusalem Regional Labor Court breaks down into NIS 65,000 for emotional abuse, NIS 7,500 reimbursement for legal costs and NIS 25,000 for violating laws protecting employees from working beyond certain hours.
Eliyahu also won an approximately NIS 60,00 judgment against the Kelinor company, an additional defendant in the case.
In September, Eliyahu started his lawsuit for abuse, being underpaid and overworked.
Eliyahu had accused Netanyahu of asking “me to bring her food, and when I would return with the requested food she would accuse me of trying to make her fat."
Eliyahu testified in September that on one occasion, he was called back to the residence after he had already gone home, "after midnight, just so I could heat up a bowl of soup for Mrs. Netanyahu." He said that upon returning to the residence he was reprimanded by Mrs. Netanyahu and told that he must come back to the residence no matter the hour if she wanted food.
Eliyahu also claimed that he was called back to the residence on one occasion because he had not wished Mrs. Netanyahu goodnight when he left work. Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already told him he could go at 12:30 at night.
State attorney Kochavit Netzah Dolev, essentially representing Sarah Netanyahu (though technically the state was the defendant and not her personally) pounded on this last point in cross-examination, getting Eliyahu to admit that Sara was not really demanding that he had to say the words “goodnight” to her, but that she wanted him to ask if she needed anything and to ask her permission to go before leaving for the night.
Further, Netzah Dolev got Eliyahu to admit that his over-time work sheets were not accurate, though Eliyahu explained that he was directed to fill out overtime work sheets in a specific way taking into account the whole work week by supervisor Ezra Seidoff, also a target in the case, regardless of whether they were accurate for a specific day.
Ultimately though the court was convinced by Eliyahu's narrative, adding another loss to Sarah Netanyahu this week after the National Labor Court rejected her appeal of Naftali's even larger judgment against her.