Lesson # 276 (part nine) • Labor Law

Topic: Employee may consume produce of field
Sub-topic: The Torah Command cont.
These Torah commands relate to the right of workers to eat from the food that they are handling. If a worker transgresses and eats of the food that is not included in the Torah command, he has transgressed one or both of these two negative commandments, and others, such as not to steal; or if he carries off in his hands that which he is working on, or takes more than he requires for his own eating and gives it to others, he is also in violation of one or both of these commandments.

Similarly, if the employer prohibits the worker from so eating, he has transgressed the Torah's positive command. No flogging is administered for violating these commandments, since they can be remedied by compelling the employee to make a cash payment for having illegally eaten of the produce that belongs to the employer. If the employer prevents the employee from eating the produce, he must pay the employee for the value of the produce that he would have eaten.

According to Torah law, only those whose body actually comes into contact with the produce may eat thereof, such as those doing the harvesting, threshing, winnowing, sifting of grain, harvesting of olives, cutting or pressing of grapes, transporting on one's shoulders, or similar work. A person who guards a field maynot eat thereof since he is not involved in the produce either before it is detached or after it is detached. The Rabbis of the Talmud extended the laws to include others, such as those who guard the grapes in the wine presses, or the stacks of wheat, or any produce that is detached from the soil and has not been completely processed to make it liable to tithing. They also extended the law to permit workers to eat while returning from the wine presses or while walking from one row of vines to another row. The laws of this lesson apply only to fields owned by fellow Jews. They do not apply to a field belonging to the Holy Temple, nor to afield belonging to a Gentile.

This right is limited to products of the soil and does not include products not of the soil, such as milk products or meat products.

Agreements and Local Custom Are Binding
The employer and the employee may agree that the employee shall not avail himself of the benefits of the laws of eating the produce of the farm. Or the employee may agree to accept additional compensation to waive his right to eat the produce. Or they may agree that the employee may have his wife and children eat of the produce on which he is working.

Without the permission of the employer, an employee may not say that the employer should give to the wife or children of the employee that which he is permitted to eat, nor may he say that he will give to his wife or his children a little of that which he is permitted to eat. Even if the employee is not able to eat the produce for any reason, such as he is ill or not permitted to eat this particular type of produce, he cannot substitute his wife or children or others to eat his quota.

If the employee is hired together with his wife and children and they all agreed that the workers will not avail themselves of the benefit of the laws of eating of the produce of the farm, the agreement is binding only on the adults, since waiver of a right requires the requisite mental capacity. A minor may not be bound by any such agreement, not having the requisite mental capacity to waive his rights, and even an agreement between the employer and the minor's father is not binding on the minor.

Most communities have laws and regulations dealing with the rights of workers, including being given time off to eat. In many industries and on farm collectives and cooperatives, the workers generally eat in restaurants, cafeterias, or dining halls operated by the employer. Thus, many of these laws will not apply and the parties will be governed by the local practice.

Note to readers: We've kept this week's lesson short to complete the section on Labor Laws, but Rabbi Quint informed us that there is one more lesson to go on that topic. For the following week, IY"H, we will have a new topic: Laws Regarding Borrowing of Objects

The subject matter of this lesson is more fully discussed in volume IX chapter 337 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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