Lesson # 268 (part one) • Labor Law

The laws that regulate the relationship between an employer and an employee are similar to laws regulating an owner and a lessee, the subject matter of our last few lessons. The employer leases the employee to do work for him. In most societies there are laws, customs, contracts, and agreements that govern the relationship between an employer and an employee. The halacha recognizes these as being binding on Jewish people covered thereby. However, there are situations where there may not be an agreement or custom or laws or regulations to govern their relationship, or some aspects thereof; or the parties may wish to abide by the law as it exists in halacha in preference to formal agreements, or laws or customs; or the workplace is small and the relationship between the employer and the employee is such that industry-wide or even company-wide policies and agreements either do not exist or do not apply; or there are exemptions under the law for such small businesses.

The concept of strikes is of recent origin in halacha. Since the right to strike is often recognized by governmental legislation, the halacha recognizes such rights with a few exceptions. I have added a section regarding strikes.

Agreements and the laws of the land govern
Halacha recognizes agreements, contracts, and the laws, regulations, and customs of the land regarding the employer/employee relationship as being binding. The contracts may be industry-wide, company-wide, or individual. To the extent any exists, it may govern all aspects of such relationships such as term of the agreement ;hours to be worked; wages, bonus, and overtime to be paid; vacations; sick leave; promotions; grievances; uniforms to be worn and/or supplied; working conditions; whether meals are to be provided by the employer; issues such as portal-to-portal pay, seniority; retirement funds, medical funds, and hospitalization; harassment; discrimination; and any other matters that come within the area of labor relations.

If there is no minimum wage law for a particular class of workers, the employee must be paid a wage at least equal to the minimum received by others in like employment.

When the employment begins
The best method to bind the employer and the employee is to have an agreement made binding by a kinyan. (The term kinyan has been defined many times in these lesson. It consists of the promisor taking hold of an item owned by the promisee, most of the time a handkerchief is used. Absent such agreements, practices recognized by the community as binding in such instances will be binding. However, it is not necessary to have a kinyan or a written contract to make binding the relationship between the employer and the employee. Absent a specific agreement, Halacha recognizes that the employment commences when the employee begins to work pursuant to the request of the employer. This is not similar to the agreements described in some prior lessons where agreements can be binding by mere words. In this case the agreement becomes binding on the employer when the employee commences to work. As soon as he commences, both parties are bound.

The Hours to Be Worked
The agreements between the parties will govern the hours to be worked. Most often there are laws or regulations, or custom in the community or trade, controlling the length of hours. If there is a new community without custom as to hours to be worked, but the majority of the workers are from a community where there wasa custom, such custom is followed.

Absent the foregoing, Halachah recognizes a 12-hour day commencing when the employee leaves his home for work until he leaves the place of employment. During that span, he is to receive time for eating his lunch and time for prayers. If the employee is paid by the hour of work, then he is not paid for prayer time and he may say the full prayers. However, if he is praying on the employer's time, he must shorten his prayers.

From this it can be seen the importance that Halacha attaches to the employee's putting in an honest day's work. On Friday and the days before Holy Days, the workday is shortened to permit the employee to reach home and make proper preparations for the Sabbath or Holy Day.

When Meals Are Supplied by the Employer
If there is no agreement between the employer and the employee as to whether the employer will furnish meals or snacks for the employee, the custom of the community or trade, if any, is followed. If there is a community practice to supply meals and/or snacks, and as to the quality and types of meals and/or snacks, this must be followed. Absent any agreement or custom, the employer is not obligated to furnish meals and/or snacks to his employees.

If the employee is employed to work as a servant or waiter in a home and if there is an agreement to furnish meals and/or snacks, the employee is entitled to the same type of snack that the employer reserves for himself. The servant is technically responsible for breakage of things when he is working in the house; however, Halacha pleads with the employer not to enforce this right in most instances, since the value of the items broken is usually small and the employer can absorb this loss better than the employee. It will be an even greater act of kindness on behalf of the employer if the broken object is of great value.

The Right to Strike
As will be seen in a future lesson, in a section that will IYH be entitled "The Employee's Right to Terminate the Employment;' the employee may leave the employment in most instances. The striking employee does not leave the employment, but temporarily leaves the employment to obtain a certain goal, most often an economic gain. The employee has the right to strike as are governed by the legislation of the community where he works. In Halacha the right is restricted in certain areas such as a Torah teacher of children; his right to strike must be weighed against the rights of the children to have uninterrupted Torah study; before embarking on a strike, such teachers must obtain approval from a prominent rabbi who should try to obtain a peaceful settlement of outstanding disputes between the employee and the school where the strike is to take place. Unfortunately, there is a long history of schools where Torah is taught where teachers have sometimes not been paid for long time periods due to lack of funds or in some schools where the wages of the teachers are below par. Sometimes the outstanding rabbis have sanctioned strikes to sound the alarm to the lay leadership of the school to raise more funds to pay the Torah teachers of the children a living wage.

The subject matter of this lesson is more fully discussed in volume IX chapter 332 of A Restatement of Rabbinic Civil Law by E. Quint. Copies of all volumes can be purchased via email: orders@gefenpublishing.com and via website: www.israelbooks.com and at local Judaica bookstores. Questions to quint@inter.net.il

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