“’For they are My slaves’ (Vayikra 25:55) – and not slaves to My slaves” (Bava Kamma 116b). Our Sages understood that the employer-employee relationship is in some ways akin to that of master and slave. An employee “sells” his time and gives his boss the right to tell him what to do, how to do it and when to do it. In order to ensure that an employee is not truly enslaved – even under the best of conditions – the rabbis gave an employee the right to quit “even in the middle of the day” (Bava Metzia 77a). Knowing one can quit at any time is psychologically most important, enabling one to feel in control of the work experience. The sense of freedom cannot be voluntarily waived, at least not in totality. The Rama (Chosen Mishpat 333:3) rules that one may not enter a labor contract of more than three years; tying oneself to one’s place of employment for such a long period is akin to slavery regardless of the pay involved[1].
Jewish law, like all legal systems distinguishes between an employee and a contractor. Able to set his own hours a contractor is hired for a specific task and may not quit until the task is completed. Should he quit – or be let go mid-job – “the one who changes his hand is on the bottom” (Bava Metzia 76a).
In practice, this would mean that if a contractor charges $10,000 to paint your home and quits while halfway through and it costs $8,000 to finish the job, the contractor would receive only $2,000. If by some fluke one can find someone to finish the job for only $2,000, the first contractor would get paid his $5,000 but no more. If it costs $12,000 to finish the job – often quitting a job in the middle means starting over – then the only question to resolve is whether the first contractor gets paid nothing, or has to pay $2,000 to the home owner[2].
This applies only once work has commenced. Should one decide not to take on the job before the agreed upon starting date, or should one hire a contractor and change one’s mind before the start date there is little the aggrieved party can do besides lodge a non-actionable complaint publicizing that one has reneged on a commitment. Not every moral wrong has a legal remedy.
However, should we be dealing with a time sensitive issue where there is no time to get a replacement worker, the Mishna (Bava Metzia 75b) rules that one can, if no replacement workers are readily available, deceive and lie to ensure the promised work gets done on time – a sad but necessary tactic when dealing with those willing to greatly inconvenience, even hurt others. The examples given in the Mishna are workers hired to remove flax from water and musicians hired for a wedding or funeral[3].
Unless the work is done on time the flax will be spoiled, the wedding less joyous and the funeral less dignified. One must have a musician now and extreme measures are called for. One may trick the worker by offering to pay a higher wage to induce him to do the work– which he is obligated to do in any event – and then explain, both legally and morally, that such an offer was a ruse to ensure the wedding would not be spoiled.
Another option our Sages allowed (encouraged?) would be to hire other workers at a greatly inflated price “up to forty and fifty zuz” (Bava Metzia 76b) and then sue the original contractor to recover the excess. With the original contract having been for only one sela or four zuzim one must think long and hard before breaking such a contract. Jewish law expects us to take our commitments seriously.
[1] It is doubtful whether such has much application today as the Rama limits his ruling to situations where the employee is forced to reside at the home of the employer. Nonetheless, the definition of “home” was extended by many to include a requirement to live in a particular locale, as would be the case with a rabbi. Many authorities limit a rabbinic contract to no more than six years, six being the unit of time a Jewish slave was permitted to sell himself. Such servitude may also apply to professional athletes who have limited control over the team they may play for. This was the reasoning behind the 1975 arbitration ruling that led baseball players to be granted free agency, the right to choose which team to play for. Being forced to play for the team that drafted you for one’s entire career was deemed to be akin to servitude. Interestingly and surely coincidentally, free agency only begins after one has played for six years, the length of time a Jewish slave served.
[2] If it is the owner who backs out and fires the contractor mid-job the contractor would be entitled to $5,000 even if it cost $8,000 for the replacement. And if a replacement cost only $2,000 to finish the job the original contractor would be entitled to $8,000.
[3] While it may sound like a non-Jewish practice, it is clear that Jewish funerals once had musical accompaniment. So important was this that it served as a basic part of the ketuba obligations of a man to his wife with the Mishna (Ketubot 4:4) recording the minimum of players one would have to hire in the eventuality of his wife’s passing.
