HCJ 721/94 El-Al Israel Airlines Ltd v. Danielowitz, IsrSC 48(5) 749 (1994)
HCJ 721/94
El-Al Israel Airlines Ltd
v.
1. Jonathan Danielowitz
2. National Labour Court
The Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice
[30 November 1994]
Before Vice-President A. Barak and Justices Y. Kedmi, D. Dorner
Petition to the Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice.
Facts: The first respondent, who is employed by El-Al as a flight attendant, has a stable relationship with another man. Under a collective agreement, El-Al gives every permanent employee a free aeroplane ticket, every year, for that employee and his/her spouse (husband or wife). Under a collective arrangement, a free ticket is also given to a companion recognized publicly as the employee’s husband/wife. The first respondent asked El-Al to give him a free ticket for his companion, but his request was denied.
Held: (Majority opinion — Vice-President A. Barak, Justice D. Dorner) Not giving the respondent a free ticket for his same-sex companion amounted to discrimination, since a distinction on the basis of the difference between a heterosexual and a homosexual relationship is unjustified in the context of employee benefits.
(Minority opinion — Justice Y. Kedmi) Linguistically, only a heterosexual couple can be called a ‘couple’; the concept of the ‘couple’ linguistically only applies to an union of male and female that can, conceptually, have children. Therefore a distinction between a same-sex companion and an opposite-sex companion is a distinction between persons who are fundamentally unequal, and this does not amount to discrimination.
Petition denied, by majority opinion (Vice-President M. Shamgar and Justice D. Dorner), Justice Y. Kedmi dissenting.
For the petitioner — Y. Winder, A. Ben-Israel
For the first respondent — S. Donevitz, O. Kalmaro
30 November 1994.