Every shift manager knows the request: "Can I swap with Dana on Thursday?" The swap itself is legitimate, but the employer is responsible for the hours of both employees. So every swap needs a manager's approval, and attendance is recorded by who actually worked, not by what was in the schedule.
This guide is for shift managers, office managers and whoever prepares payroll: who approves, what to check before approving, which traps wait in overtime, rest and Shabbat, and what to record so the payslip comes out right. The legal points describe Israeli law.
Who approves
The employees agree between themselves, but the approval is the manager's. They are the only one who sees the whole picture: how many hours each person has already worked this week, when they finished yesterday, and who is left to cover the shift.
A short method that everyone knows is enough:
- The request in writing. Who is swapping with whom, which shift and which date. A message in the group or a form, not "we talked in the hallway".
- Both employees agree, each for themselves.
- The manager checks and approves before the swap. An approval after the fact checks nothing.
- The published schedule is updated, so everyone works from the same version.
What to check before approving
A swap looks even: one shift for another. But each employee is in a different situation, so check both.
Overtime
An employee who takes a colleague's shift on top of their own quickly ends up with a long day. Say an employee finished an eight-hour morning shift and offers to stay for a colleague's evening shift. They are now at 16 hours, most of them overtime.
As a rule in Israel, the first two overtime hours in a day are paid at no less than 125% of the regular wage, and from the third hour at no less than 150%. Under the general permit for employing overtime there is also a ceiling on hours per day and per week, and a 16-hour day goes beyond it.
An employee who asked to stay does not turn those hours into regular hours. If the work was done with the employer's knowledge, it is paid.
Rest between shifts
As a rule, there must be at least 8 hours of rest between one workday and the next. A swap breaks that easily: an employee who closed yesterday at 23:30 and now covers someone who opens at 06:30 got less than seven hours.
This is the check that is easiest to miss, because in the original schedule everything was fine. Check each employee's last finish time and their new start time.
Shabbat and weekly rest
As a rule, every employee is entitled to at least 36 consecutive hours of rest each week, and for a Jewish employee they include Shabbat. An employee who covers a Friday-evening or Shabbat shift worked during their weekly rest. That is allowed only under a permit, and it is paid at no less than 150%.
"I'll take your Shabbat, no problem" sounds generous, but the employer's responsibility does not disappear.
Night shifts and long days
A swap that puts an employee on a night shift changes their terms: the night workday is shorter, and the hours have rules of their own. When an employee gets two shifts back to back, sometimes called a double shift, check overtime and the daily ceiling. And if the second part comes after a long break, it is a split shift.
Employees with rules of their own, such as teenagers or a pregnant employee, are not swapped without an extra check. Their night and hours restrictions stay in force even when they swap.
What to record in attendance
The rule is simple: wages are paid to whoever worked. The schedule is a plan, and the law requires the employer to keep a record of the actual working hours, the overtime and the weekly rest (section 25 of the Hours of Work and Rest Law).
So in a swap:
- Each employee clocks in for themselves. Whoever actually worked clocks in and out. One employee must never clock in on behalf of a colleague.
- The employee who was replaced is not recorded. If Dana did not come because Yossi covered for her, the hours are Yossi's, not Dana's.
- The swap is documented. A short note: who replaced whom, who approved and when. If a question comes up about hours or pay, the answer exists.
Three mistakes that keep coming back
- A swap that was not updated. The schedule says Dana, the clock says Yossi. At month end someone searches for why Dana is missing hours and Yossi has more.
- A "swap" without approval that turned into overtime. Two employees agreed between themselves, and one of them worked an eleven-hour day. The manager found out at month end.
- A swap on Shabbat that nobody thought about in terms of weekly rest.
How this looks in ProperTime
In ProperTime, hours are recorded by whoever worked, and the manager approves them:
- Personal clock-in: each employee clocks in from the mobile app, from the computer or from a physical time clock. The clock-in goes into the report of the person who clocked in.
- Manager approval: managers go over the reports and approve them during the month, while it is still easy to fix an hour recorded for someone who did not work.
- A reminder for whoever forgot: an employee who forgot to clock in gets a reminder and completes it themselves.
- A payroll file: at month end the approved hours go out in a ready-to-load file for leading Israeli payroll systems, including the shifts, the overtime and the wage supplements.
So a swap ends in one clear report, in the attendance system that managers and employees both see, and it is easy to compare the schedule with actual attendance.
This is general information, as of October 2026. A collective agreement, an extension order for the sector or the employment contract can give an employee better terms. For your own case, check Kol Zchut (the Israeli rights information site) or consult an employment lawyer.
Sources (checked October 2026): the Hours of Work and Rest Law (sections 7, 16, 17, 21 and 25); the general permit for employing overtime.
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