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Jewish World Review
March 6, 2006
/ 6 Adar, 5766
Long hours
By
Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir
How many hours of work is too many?
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Q: My hours of work at my law firm seem to be endless.
How much work is too much, leaving too little time for serving G-d?
A: The need for a fair and transparent work hour
policy was evident
already
in the time of the sages of the Mishnah, two thousand
years ago. The
Mishnah in tractate Bava Metzia states: "One who hires
workers and told
them to arrive early or stay late, if it is a place
where it is not
customary to arrive early or stay late, he cannot
compel them." (1)
What then is a "standard" work day in a place where
there is no custom
to
extend it? The Talmud tells us that it begins at
daybreak, and
continues
until some time before nightfall, in order to allow
the workers to
arrive
home before dark. (On Sabbath eve the worker needs
time to make minimal
Sabbath preparations before sundown, so he must leave
earlier.) (2)
It's clear that this is quite a long workday nearly
twelve hours on
average. Certainly this is not customary today, though
in some
professions,
including yours, seventy hour work weeks are not too
unusual. On the
other
hand, it is a workday that is clearly delineated.
While the worker is
admonished to be prompt and hard working, his
obligations are clearly
defined, and the employer is not allowed to exceed
them to compel the
worker to work longer if custom or agreement doesn't
stipulate this.
It is this aspect that is most often a problem today.
Average work
hours
are much less than in the time of the Mishnah, but
probably more
workers
today find that their workday seems to be "endless",
as you state,
because
they feel that they are on call even when the workday
is done. Many
workplaces don't provide any clear guidelines for fair
working hours
for
professionals and managers; some have this problem for
shift workers as
well.
The Shulchan Aruch (authoritative code of Jewish law)
states: "After
you
leave the synagogue [following morning prayers], go to
the house of
study,
and establish a time for learning. And this time must
be fixed, not to
be
missed even if there is an opportunity to earn much".
In the next
chapter,
it tells us that a person should then go to work, but
must remember
that
work is of secondary importance to Torah (Bible). (3)
This is the same Shulchan Aruch which later on tells
us the standard
workday of the Mishnah. (4) We see that making work of
secondary
importance
to Torah doesn't require us to devote many hours to
activities which
are
devoted solely to G-d's service, like prayer and Torah
study. But it
does
require a commitment, having certain times that are
sacrosanct and to
which workday concerns cannot intrude.
Of course the main refuge we have from our work lives
is the Sabbath.
But
even on weekdays, which are appropriately devoted to
work and
livelihood,
we need certain times free from the burden of
employment.
The ideal working situation is one that leaves ample
time for other
aspects
of life: family life, helping others, prayer and
study, social life,
and
constructive recreation. But everyone has to make a
living, and it is a
fact of life that some kinds of work require long
hours on the job. In
these cases, the most important thing is to ensure
that the obligations
of
the worker are as clearly defined as possible. A
workday with no clear
end
is exploitative to the worker, and often backfires as
workers engage in
unproductive competition to put in hours without
productivity as well
as
"undertime" activities meant to camouflage leisure or
errands as work.
We
wrote in a previous column
that keeping a worker later than necessary turns often
into gratuitous
"busy work", which Jewish law forbids as a kind of
unseemly domination of the employee.
The ideal working situation is a job which in itself
contributes to
mankind, and also leaves adequate time for other
dimensions of G-d's
service, religious and otherwise. But even those whose
livelihood
requires
a long work day can keep their personal commitments,
as long as their
work
obligations are clearly defined and make their
non-working hours truly
their own.
SOURCES: (1) Mishnah, Bava Metzia 7:1. (2) Babylonian
Talmud Bava Metzia 83b. (3) Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 155 and 156. (4)
Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 331:1
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JWR contributor Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir, formerly of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Reagan
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Previously:
Can I promote my product by having it unobtrusively written into a story?
He's not heavy he's my brother
All's fair in war?, II
All's fair in war?
Girth vs. worth
Is it proper to tax bequests?
Ethics of Being Overweight
Penalized for working swiftly
When is it a bluff?
'Rate and switch'
My paycheck is late!
Should schools cater to an elite?
All's fair in love?
Comfort and Competition
Do I need the caller's permission to put a call on the speakerphone?
Overtime for lost time
Is it unethical to play suppliers against each other to get the lowest bid possible?
Do family members have precedence in charity allotments?
What the world of business can teach us about our annual process of repentance and renewal
Are religious leaders subject to criticism?
Vindictive Vendor: How can I punish an abusive competitor?
Blogging Ethics: Is the blogger responsible for defamatory posts?
© 2005, The Jewish Ethicist is produced by the JCT Center for Business Ethics
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