Quitting a Job
There is a very interesting discussion in the “Daf Yomi Digest” to Bava Metzia 77.[1] The Gemara discusses whether an employee is permitted to quit his job. It seems from the Gemara, according to Rav at least, that one is permitted to quit one's job at any time. The Chochmat Shlomo, however, asserts that an employee is not permitted to quit his job if he is doing so simply in order to accept a job with another employer.[2]
The reason an employee may quit in the middle of his employment is based on the verse: "For the children of Israel are slaves to Me, they are My slaves,"[3] from where we learn that we are slaves exclusively to God and to no one else. As such, it is permitted to quit a job at any time in order to release ourselves from any other "servitude." On the other hand, one who quits his job only to become a "slave" to another employer, clearly has no intention to release himself from “servitude,” and quitting should therefore be prohibited accordingly.
An employee must not quit a job in the middle of a project, or in any other situation that would cause his employer a loss. An employee who does so will be responsible for any costs difference involved in hiring a different worker to complete the project. For example, if a contract worker was hired to plow a field for $100, and after plowing half the field he decided to quit, he can demand no more than $50 since he only did half the work. If a replacement worker can only be found for $80, then the worker who quit is entitled to only $20.[4]
An employee who is not being paid for his work (i.e. “a volunteer”) is permitted to quit if necessary, even if doing so will cause his employer a loss.[5] If, however, the employer is now willing to pay the volunteer for the job, he should not quit if doing so will cause the employer a loss.[6] Other authorities make no such distinction and permit a volunteer to quit under all circumstances.[7] Most batei din today will encourage one to follow the first view.[8]
An employer can take action against an employee who quits without halachic justification. For example, an employer may entice his employee into not quitting by offering double or triple pay, and then only pay him his original salary when the job is completed.[9] So too, an employer may hire additional or higher paid employees to complete the job, and take their wages from the money owed to the employee who quit.[10]
All this is only true if, at the time when the original employee was hired, the employer could have found other suitable employees in his place. If, however, there was no one else available for such a job when the original employee was hired, then the employer may not take any such measures. This is because the quitting is not considered to have caused the employer a loss since without this specific employee he would have nothing anyway. So too, in order for an employer to be permitted to deceitfully seduce his employee into not quitting with extra pay, there must be no other workers available to complete the job for the same price as the original worker. If, however, other workers can be found for the same price, and nevertheless the employer still offered his unlawfully quitting employee double or triple pay to stay, then he must keep his word and pay the extra remuneration as promised.[11]
A Jew is required to give his employer his absolute best, as Yaakov said, "With all my might I worked for your father."[12] An employer is encouraged to treat his employees beyond the letter of the law even if it means taking a loss.[13] An employer must provide his employees with food if doing so is common custom.[14] He must also pay his employees on time at the agreed upon intervals.[15] One should not commit to a job for more than three years at a time[16], especially if one lives on the premises of his employer and his employer is his sole source of income.[17]
When one takes his work seriously and executes it faithfully, one brings honor upon oneself.[18] An employee is often permitted to recite a shortened order of prayers so as not to take time away from his job.[19] We are taught that one of the first questions a person will be asked in Heaven is whether one was honest in business.[20]
[1] Available at: http://www.dafdigest.org/BavaMetzia/Bava%20Metzia%20077.pdf
[2] Tur, CM 333; Bach, CM 333; Chochmat Shlomo, CM 333.
[3] Vayikra 25:55.
[4] Pure Money Vol. II p. 95
[5] Rema, CM 333:5.
[6] Shach, CM 333:31.
[7] Netivot Hamishpat, CM 333:12.
[8] Chazon Ish, Bava Kama 22:2.
[9] CM 333:5
[10] CM 333:6.
[11] Pure Money Vol. II p. 95-97.
[12] Rambam, Hilchot Sechirut 13:11.
[13] Bava Metzia 83a.
[14] Mishna Bava Metzia 7:1.
[15] Vayikra 19:13; Bava Metzia 112a.
[16] The three year limit is derived from the fact that the Torah refers to a Hebrew slave’s typical six-year term of servitude as twice the length of time that a normal worker commits himself to (Devarim 16:18).
[17] Rema, CM 333:3; Shach, CM 333:16, 17.
[18] Nedarim 49b.
[19] Berachot 17a, 46a.
[20] Shabbat 31a.