The Mutual Responsibilities of Employer and Employee
Bein Adam Le-chavero: Ethics
of Interpersonal Conduct
By Rav Binyamin Zimmerman
Shiur #25: The Mutual Responsibilities of
Employer and Employee
The Holiness of Treating Employees Properly
Parashat Kedoshim, which features the Torahs recipe for a life of
holiness, contains many interpersonal mitzvot that are necessary
ingredients for true holiness. A number of them, such as the prohibition of
hatred and the mitzva to love ones fellow Jew, are basic. Others, notably a
number of respectable business practices, are undoubtedly important, but do not
at first glance seem to typify holy behavior. Their appearance in Parashat
Kedoshim indicates that the workplace is not only a venue in which to make
money and support a family, but an essential part of a religious lifestyle.
The relevant mitzvot
discussed in Kedoshim relate to accusations of financial impropriety,
financial disputes, and treatment of employees, among other areas. Notably,
these mitzvot appear alongside various general monetary prohibitions,
such as robbery. Though they might appear to differ radically, the Torah does
not seem to think that they do:
You shall not withhold
that which is due your neighbor and you shall not rob [him]. You shall not leave
the wages earned by a day laborer overnight until morning. (Vayikra
19:13)
This verse contains three
presumably distinct prohibitions. The first and last focus on employees, while
the second applies generally. We already discussed the prohibition of robbery in
the past (Year 1, Lesson 25), showing how the placement of this prohibition and
that of theft in Parashat Kedoshim indicate far-reaching mitzvot
that engender holiness by proscribing even certain actions that would not
otherwise be considered stealing.
The juxtaposition of the
prohibitions of robbery and failing to pay employees punctually indicates that
there is a relationship between the first, general injunction against illegally
taking another persons money, and the second, specific mitzva pertaining to an
employees wages. Indeed, the Gemara (Bava Metzia 111a) sees deprivation
of wages as a form of robbery, as it too entails depriving another of money that
is rightfully his:
Deprivation of wages is
also robbery. Then why did the Torah address them separately? So that one would
thus violate two prohibitions.
Based solely on the
Gemara, we might believe that deprivation of wages is nothing more than a form
of robbery in which one withholds money due a worker. We could debate whether
this is worse than grabbing something out of another persons hands, as it shows
a lack of appreciation of ones worker, or perhaps less bad. The placement of
this mitzva in Kedoshim, however, makes clear that beyond robbery and
mishandling money, it contains another element: that of the proper attitude and
approach to ones employees.
Elsewhere (Devarim
24:1415), the Torah repeats and expands upon an employers financial
obligations to his employees:
Do not withhold anything
from a day laborer who is poor and needy, whether of your brethren or of the
strangers who live in your land, within your gates. You shall give his wage on
his day, and not let the sun set on it, for he is poor and he sets his soul on
it, lest he cry out to God against you and you incur a sin.
From these additional mitzvot we see
that the prohibition against deprivation of wages is not only an additional
layer of the prohibition against robbery, but an independent prohibition with
its own unique elements. The words you shall not rob in Kedoshim
underscore the notion that deprivation of wages is akin to robbery but much
more than that.
The Importance of Not Delaying Wages
We will analyze these
mitzvot in our next lesson, but first, a word is in order regarding their
significance, as well as regarding the Torahs general outlook on the
employeremployee relationship.
The Chafetz Chaim
dedicated an entire section of his Ahavat Chesed to the mitzvot of
timely payment of workers. In the introduction to that section, he explains why
he feels they bear especial discussion, noting that besides reinforcement by one
positive and five negative mitzvot, there are numerous indications that
one is punished severely for failing to pay an employee punctually. For
instance, the prophet Malachi (3:5) states:
I will come near to you
in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against
the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely, and against those who
oppress the employee through his wages.
The verse clearly indicates that God Himself
will both bear witness against and judge those who do these things.
The Gemara (Sukka
29b) similarly says:
Householders lose their
property on account of four things: on account of those who defer payment of a
hired laborers wage[1]
and on account of those who withhold a hired laborers wage
The Chafetz Chaim then
quotes a selection from the Zohar (on Vayikra 19:13) that connects
the verse in Kedoshim forbidding an employer to keep wages with you all
night until morning with the verse in Devarim (24:15) that instructs,
and do not let the sun set on it. He comments that one should be careful to
follow these mitzvot so as not to die ahead of his time:
From this we learn an
additional lesson: that if one restores the soul of a poor man, even if his time
has arrived to depart from the world, God restores his soul and gives him an
additional lease on life. To withhold the wages of a poor man is like taking his
life and the life of his household. As the employer diminishes their souls, so
God diminishes his days, and cuts off his soul from the other world, for all the
breaths that issue from the employers mouth ascend and stand before the
Almighty, and afterwards [the employees] soul and the souls of his household
ascend and stand in those breaths. Thus even if lengthy days and many blessings
were decreed for that man, they are all withdrawn, and his soul does not rise
up.
Thus the Zohar (ibid.),
continues the Chafetz Chaim, describes the pains taken by many scholars to pay
their workers immediately. Among them was Rav Hamnuna, who would immediately pay
a worker and state:
Take your soul that you
have entrusted to me! Take your deposit!
And even if the worker
asked Rav Hamnuna to hold it on his behalf, Rav Hamnuna would remark, It is not
fitting that your body be deposited with me, still less your soul, which should
be deposited only with God, as it is written (Tehillim 31:6), To your
hand I commit my spirit.
The wages of an employee are viewed as
restoring his soul; withholding them is akin to murder. This is so even if the
employee is wealthy even more so if he is poor.
Many may view these
halakhot as foreign because they are employees, not employers. Yet in truth
few individuals never face this obligation. Anyone who orders cleaning help,
hires a babysitter, goes for a haircut, or pays a taxi fare is hiring a worker,
albeit briefly. These situations are opportunities to express ones commitment
to the responsibilities of an employer, coupled with care, concern, and
appreciation for the employee.
Mutual Obligations of the EmployerEmployee
Relationship
The Torahs outlook on
employeremployee relations is quite different than that of much of modern
society. Modern society has been very successful in providing rights to workers,
who are understandably often in a position to be taken advantage of. Conversely,
it is impossible to provide rights to workers without giving some level of
rights to employers.
The Torahs outlook, from
start to finish, is very different. The Torah seeks an employeremployee
relationship that is built upon a system of responsibilities. The
employee must perform the work for which he is hired, and the employer must pay
his worker on time and provide the basic needs associated with the work being
done.
The workplace should be a
place of appreciation and ethical conduct, not an incubator of tenuous
relationships in which employer and employee each speak behind the others back.
The goal is that the employer constantly seeks better conditions for his
employees, not that workers fight for better conditions, and that workers
fulfill their duties as caring, able-bodied employees. As usual, the Torah is
not concerned with the mechanics so much as with the fundamental relationship.
Long before secular labor
law granted workers rights, the Torah premised the obligation to pay workers
punctually on the attitude of an employee to his work: he sets his soul on it.
On the other side of the equation, the employee has no right to take advantage
of his employer, and is obligated to work without wasting time. The Torah even
requires that he forgo certain responsibilities to God if they would cause
unnecessary interruption in his work.
Yaakov: The Model Worker
The Torahs model of the
dedicated employee is our forefather Yaakov. Yaakov is described in his youth as
a pure man dwelling in tents (Bereishit 25:27), which the Midrash
(cited by Rashi) understands as meaning that he dwelled in the study tent of
Eiver. Yaakov continues his studies even after leaving his parents home; the
Midrash sees Yaakovs sleeping at the beginning of Parashat Vayeitzei as
an unusual occurrence because, while studying in the yeshiva of Eiver for
fourteen years after leaving home, he had kept his sleep to a bare minimum
(Rashi on Bereishit 28:11).
Given this background,
one would expect Yaakov to have been a rather useless shepherd during the twenty
years he worked for Lavan. After all, he was a yeshiva bachur,
built for studying, not for hard labor. Yet after Lavan accuses Yaakov of
running away and searches his possessions, Yaakov responds with this vivid
description of his efforts:
I have spent twenty years with you. Your ewes and female goats have not aborted,
and I have not eaten the rams of your flocks. I
have not brought to you anything torn [by other animals]: I would suffer the
loss of it, from my hand you would demand it, [both] what was taken by day and
what was taken at night. I was [in the field] by day when the heat consumed me,
and the frost at night, and my sleep wandered from my eyes. I have spent twenty
years in your household. I worked fourteen years for you for your two daughters
and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten counts. Had the God
of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, not been with me, you
would now have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the toil of
my hands, and [therefore] He reproved [you] last night. (Bereishit
31:3842)
Though the Gemara (Bava Metzia 93b)
discusses the degree to which workers are required to live up to Yaakovs
standards of commitment, Rambam (Sekhirut 13:7) rules as follows:
Just as the
employer is warned not to steal the wage of the poor person or withhold it from
him, the poor person is warned not to steal from the work due his employer or
neglect his work slightly here and there, spending the entire day in deceit.
Instead, he is obligated to be precise with regard to his time. The importance
of such precision is indicated by our Sages ruling that workers should not
recite the fourth blessing of Grace after Meals, so as not to neglect their
work. Similarly, a worker is obligated to work with all his strength, for the
righteous Yaakov said, I served your father with all my strength (Bereishit
31:7). For this one will be granted a reward even in this world, as is indicated
by and the man became extremely wealthy (ibid. 30:43).
Yaakovs work ethic is the model for all
employees. Yaakov, who expressed the same commitment in his work as in his Torah
study, understood that an employees fulfillment of his duties must equal that
of the Torah scholar.
There is one caveat,
however, and it is one where efforts to be a good worker can transform ones
personality. Although a person is required to fulfill his obligations to an
employer, one always must first and foremost remain subservient to God, just as
Yaakov never lost his commitment to God despite his steadfast efforts at work.
When he sends a message
to Eisav to announce his arrival, Yaakov states, Im Lavan garti (Bereishit
32:5). Literally these words mean, I lived with Lavan, but Rashi cites the
midrashic understanding that by using the word garti which is
numerically equivalent to 613, the number of mitzvot Yaakov indicated
that despite working for Lavan and living in his home, he had maintained the
principles he had learned in his fathers home.
Further, as Rav Aharon
Lichtenstein once remarked, not only did Yaakov stay committed, but immediately
after the encounter with Lavan (32:3), Yaakov saw the same angels he had seen
(28:12) after an extended period of studying Gods ways under Eiver. It was
understandable for Yaakov to dream of angels after his sleepless study of Godly
topics, but who could continue to see those angels after twenty years in the
house of Lavan?
Yaakov could. This is,
then, a powerful reminder of how he merited to be a forefather of the Jewish
people. Yaakov demonstrated that an employees obligations to his human boss
must and can be tempered by his obligations to the Boss of all. In so doing,
he also showed that it is essential for working people to remain connected to
the Torah by continuing to find time to study it.
Maintaining Perspective
The problem is that not
all of us are Yaakov. Sometimes our desire to curry favor with our bosses
results in putting an employer on a pedestal, virtually replacing God. People
are often all too willing to sacrifice their moral, ethical, and religious
scruples in order to get ahead at work, and such actions are commonly excused as
necessary for supporting ones family. This approach does quite the opposite of
imparting the holiness that is supposed to be the hallmark of the
employeremployee relationship. Even more than harming the workplace and those
in it, trying to curry favor with ones boss at all costs can transform a
persons personality, and often causes an employees morals to decay even
outside of work.
On the other hand, the
halakhic limitations on what a worker is permitted to do are a powerful force
for maintaining perspective and remembering that the Boss above has the final
word.
Based on the Torahs
words for the children of Israel are servants to Me (Vayikra 25:55),
Mordekhai (Bava Metzia 459) states that a worker may not agree to certain
types of work for more than three years at a time, as this would constitute
accepting servitude to a human instead of God. As the verse indicates, a Jew
must be a servant of God, not a servant of a fellow servant.[2]
Because a worker is
considered to rent himself out, and rental is a form of temporary sale (Bava
Metzia 56b), an employee is essentially owned by his employer on a temporary
basis. The Torah permits such a relationship, but does not permit enslaving
oneself. By the same token, because a worker must not be a slave to his
employer, he may quit at any time he desires, for the children of Israel are
servants to Me (Vayikra 25:55) slaves to God, not slaves to other
slaves [other humans] (Bava Metzia 10a).
All of the halakhot
regarding mistreatment of a slave, such as assigning demeaning or redundant
tasks, apply to an employee (Sefer Ha-chinukh 346). Similarly, just as a
slave is sent off with gifts when his period of servitude ends (Devarim
15:14), it is proper to give additional money to a worker who leaves (Minchat
Yitzchak, vol. 6, no. 167; Tzitz Eliezer, vol. 7, 48:10.)
These obligations help an
employee remember that despite his commitments, he is not a slave. Equally, they
remind the employer that his commitments to his Boss include words of praise and
respect for his workers. An employer even is generally forbidden to fire a
worker, a measure permitted under specific halakhic situations of extreme
necessity.
Finally, just as Yaakov
maintained his dream and vision while working for Lavan, employees must remain
committed to their ethical principles, just as employers have ethical
commitments to their workers and to the supreme Boss.
Food for Workers
Care and concern for
workers find further expression in the obligation to allow those employed in
agriculture to eat some of the produce on which they work (Devarim
23:2526). Even animals working in the field may not be muzzled to prevent them
from eating (Devarim 25:4). In fact, this latter mitzva serves as the
archetypical prohibition whose violation is punishable by lashes.
Rav Hirsch (on verses
2526) views the agricultural workers right to eat as related to the
prohibition against lending on interest, found three verses earlier (and
discussed in recent lessons):
These laws, like the
prohibition of interest, stem from the fact that when God founded our national
society, He reserved for Himself an unlimited right of disposition over all our
property. On this right He founded our life as a people: a life built on the
duty to show mercy and do justice. The Jewish landowner is obligated here to
permit the workers who harvest the produce of his field to eat as much of the
harvest as they like while they are engaged in reaping his crops. At the same
time, however, the worker is obligated to keep strictly within the limits of
this right, and to be careful not to abuse it.
The practical halakhot
of this mitzva, inherent in the words of the Torah, offer a further message.
Permission is granted to consume only items of food that grow from the ground,
only once nature has ripened them and man comes with his basket and sickle to
take what nature has completed. Once the food is detached, the workers right to
it lasts only until it is ready for human use, i.e. until the obligation to
tithe it takes effect. Rav Hirsch explains:
the worker may eat
attached and detached foods only once the produce has been ripened by nature and
only while he is engaged in bringing it into a finished state and preparing it
for human use. Not before, and not after, but on the threshold of mans mastery
over nature so apt to engender the selfish thought, This is my own and mine
alone does Gods Torah scatter the seeds of duty, which stems from justice
and loving kindness, and affects both the landowner and the worker.
A similar message is
evident in the seemingly unlimited prohibition against preventing an animal from
eating produce on which it is working. The Torah not only seeks to stress to the
landowner his lack of total control over his crops, but also to nurture care and
concern both for employees and for animals. The landowner must respect that
working with his food causes humans emotions, and even animals instincts, to
make them wish to partake.[3]
Some note that these
mitzvot also benefit the employer, who should want his workers to be
connected to their work. The more a person is connected to his work, the more
likely he will be to take an earnest interest in a successful crop. Allowing
workers to partake of the food also teaches the employer that the workers
contribution should not go unnoticed and, to a certain degree, makes them
partners in what has grown.
The basic laws of the
employeremployee relationship, from timely payment to the prohibition of
muzzling animals and all in between, require not only action, but also the
development of a holy character that these actions should inspire in man.
In concluding his
aforementioned discussion, the Chafetz Chaim states that he is convinced that
people are negligent in paying workers on time only because they are unaware of
the mitzvas importance and unsure of its parameters. Therefore, he writes, this
mitzva deserves special study.
In next weeks lesson we
will elaborate on the prohibitions of non-payment and delayed payment of wages,
as well as uncover some of the holiness that the mitzvot of timely
payment seek to engender.
[1] I.e. tell workers to return
later to receive their wages (Rashi).
[2] This ruling is codified by
Rema (Choshen Mishpat 333:3).
[3] With regard to restaurant
workers and others who work amid food. Although the letter of the law seems to
be restricted to work in the fields, the spirit of the law might extend beyond.
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