Chapter 28
A Miscellany Including Stationery, Clocks, Noises, Baby Carriages, Remuneration and Advance Preparations
REMUNERATION FOR SERVICES RENDERED ON SHABBATH OR YOM TOV
58.a. The prohibition against receiving remuneration for work done on Shabbath applies to
1) a separate payment made for that work, and even to
2) a payment covering that work together with work done on a day other than Shabbath, if the latter work is not connected with the former.
58.b. It does not apply to, and one may receive, payment for work performed over a period of time which includes Shabbath.
58.c. 1) It should be noted that payment may be received in the last-mentioned case only if work is performed under a firm arrangement which the parties
a) regard as binding on themselves and
b) expect to last.
2) a) It is otherwise if the parties regard the arrangement as a temporary one, which either of them is perfectly free to terminate at will, the amount owing up to the date of termination being calculated on a daily basis.
b) In that case, it is forbidden to accept remuneration for the work done on Shabbath, even when it forms part of one payment covering the total number of days worked.
3) a) In other words, what is important is not whether the payment covers work over a period, but whether, in the eyes of the parties, the arrangement was genuinely for employment over a period.
b) Calculation of remuneration on a daily basis, not within the context of a previously envisaged period of employment, gives an individual importance to each day, including Shabbath.
c) That being so, payment cannot be generally attributed to the total number of days as a period.
