“You’ll get nothing”: OSR CEO’s message sparks employee revolt amid collapse

A group of 12 employees, some current and some former, filed a petition with the Lod District Court seeking to initiate legal proceedings against OSR, claiming the autotech company has encountered financial difficulties and has failed to pay salaries for an extended period. OSR is controlled by CEO Orit Shifman, and the employees, represented by attorney Offir Ronen, are also requesting the appointment of a trustee.

And what does Shifman have to say to the distressed employees? According to messages seen by Calcalist, she told them: “The liquidation of your company means absolute zero, zero money, for the employees.”

OSR Israel, founded in 2014, is a subsidiary of Swiss-based OSR, which was established in 2011. According to the petition, “Over the past year, the company has faced severe financial difficulties due to serious management problems and problematic conduct by the CEO. It has accumulated losses of millions of shekels annually and continues to generate new debts daily.” The filing also claims that “the company’s coffers have been completely emptied, and it is suffering from extremely serious cash flow problems.”

The employees allege that OSR’s roughly 40 workers have not received salaries since May and that the company has failed to deposit pension and savings fund contributions since June 2024, despite allegedly deducting the funds from employee paychecks. The total amount owed to employees is estimated at NIS 2 million.

According to the petitioners, at least 19 financial claims totaling approximately NIS 10 million have been filed against the company over the past year, and checks totaling NIS 3 million were returned due to insufficient funds. In September, insolvency proceedings were opened against the company over a debt of NIS 3 million.

In response to the growing unrest among employees, Shifman sent a WhatsApp message to staff in which she wrote:

“I understand that some of your colleagues, both current and former employees, have decided they are very, very smart and want to give a few scavenger lawyers the right and pleasure to shoot you and themselves in the head. These smart people think that if they go to court to dissolve the company, they will happily receive money from National Insurance because the court will happily dissolve the company. So let me explain something to all the smart people: you only receive money from National Insurance if a court approves the company’s dissolution.”

She continued: “If I thought the court would let you dissolve the company, I would do it myself. There is no chance in the world that the court will dissolve the company, which means anyone owed money will not receive a penny. The Israeli subsidiary has no assets, zero assets. It receives money from abroad, and only for development services. That’s the source of your salaries. Dissolving the company means zero for the employees, zero for pensions, and zero for anyone else expecting payment. National Insurance will not pay you a penny because the court will not approve the dissolution of a company with no assets.”

In a filing submitted to the Lod District Court last Thursday, OSR, represented by the Gornitzky Law Firm, stated that “the requests toension and savings fund contributions since June 2024, despite allegedly deducting the funds from employee paychecks. The total amount owed to employees is estimated at NIS 2 million.

According to the petitioners, at least 19 financial claims totaling approximately NIS 10 million have been filed against the company over the past year, and checks totaling NIS 3 million were returned due to insufficient funds. In September, insolvency proceedings were opened against the company over a debt of NIS 3 million.

In response to the growing unrest among employees, Shifman sent a WhatsApp message to staff in which she wrote:

“I understand that some of your colleagues, both current and former employees, have decided they are very, very smart and want to give a few scavenger lawyers the right and pleasure to shoot you and themselves in the head. These smart people think that if they go to court to dissolve the company, they will happily receive money from National Insurance because the court will happily dissolve the company. So let me explain something to all the smart people: you only receive money from National Insurance if a court approves the company’s dissolution.”

She continued: “If I thought the court would let you dissolve the company, I would do it myself. There is no chance in the world that the court will dissolve the company, which means anyone owed money will not receive a penny. The Israeli subsidiary has no assets, zero assets. It receives money from abroad, and only for development services. That’s the source of your salaries. Dissolving the company means zero for the employees, zero for pensions, and zero for anyone else expecting payment. National Insurance will not pay you a penny because the court will not approve the dissolution of a company with no assets.”

In a filing submitted to the Lod District Court last Thursday, OSR, represented by the Gornitzky Law Firm, stated that “the requests to appoint a temporary trustee and to issue an order to initiate proceedings are merely another step in a campaign of improper pressure on the company and its controlling shareholder. This campaign is led by a small investor involved in criminal matters who, apparently due to his financial difficulties, has resorted to blackmail, threats, and harassment in order to extract funds from the company to which he is not entitled.”

OSR added that it has “evidence that the petitioners, through their attorney, are collaborating with this investor, who has for months been contacting legitimate company employees and attempting to persuade them to act against the company under various pretexts, efforts that have all been rejected.”

The company further opposed the appointment of a temporary trustee, arguing that “OSR operates in research and development in the field of artificial intelligence and serves only one client. There is no practical justification for such an appointment. This is not an industrial company that requires day-to-day management such as customer relations, inventory, banking, or supplier coordination. The company’s operational entity is a professional R&D team that manages development only. Appointing an attorney as a temporary trustee would be pointless, as they would not understand or speak the technical language of the employees.”

In a May 2023 interview, Shifman said the company had raised NIS 500 million from investors in the automotive industry. In 2022, OSR announced plans to unveil an electric vehicle within a year and begin production within three years, with the goal of competing in the global EV market. Its communication system for drivers and vehicles, called EVOLVER, previously won a collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover.

appoint a temporary trustee and to issue an order to initiate proceedings are merely another step in a campaign of improper pressure on the company and its controlling shareholder. This campaign is led by a small investor involved in criminal matters who, apparently due to his financial difficulties, has resorted to blackmail, threats, and harassment in order to extract funds from the company to which he is not entitled.”

OSR added that it has “evidence that the petitioners, through their attorney, are collaborating with this investor, who has for months been contacting legitimate company employees and attempting to persuade them to act against the company under various pretexts, efforts that have all been rejected.”

The company further opposed the appointment of a temporary trustee, arguing that “OSR operates in research and development in the field of artificial intelligence and serves only one client. There is no practical justification for such an appointment. This is not an industrial company that requires day-to-day management such as customer relations, inventory, banking, or supplier coordination. The company’s operational entity is a professional R&D team that manages development only. Appointing an attorney as a temporary trustee would be pointless, as they would not understand or speak the technical language of the employees.”

In a May 2023 interview, Shifman said the company had raised NIS 500 million from investors in the automotive industry. In 2022, OSR announced plans to unveil an electric vehicle within a year and begin production within three years, with the goal of competing in the global EV market. Its communication system for drivers and vehicles, called EVOLVER, previously won a collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover.