Bava Metzia, Chapter Six, Mishnah One. The chapter continues to discuss various aspects of monetary law, focusing primarily on labor laws. Within the framework of the Torah, there are two main ways in which a person can be employed:
Contractor: One who receives payment for performing a specific job - to build a closet or sew a suit - at a fixed price for the finished product. This is contracting: a hundred dollars for sewing the suit, a hundred dollars for building the closet, and the like.
Worker: One who receives payment for his time, per unit of time. One who hires a person to work in his fields, to harvest grapes or reap wheat, pays him by the hour or by any other arrangement agreed upon between them.
Day laborer: A daily worker, hired for his time for that day only, and who can be assigned any job whatsoever.
One can imagine a situation where unemployed workers stand in the town square every morning looking for work, and an employer arrives there at eight o'clock and hires someone to work for him that day. However, according to the Gemara, the workday of a day laborer begins at sunrise and ends at sunset, and presumably they would hire them or finalize agreements with them the day before. Throughout the day, the laborer does whatever is assigned to him - acting as an extra pair of hands at the employer's disposal.
"Hasocher es ha'umanin":
The Mishnah opens with the words "hasocher es ha'umanin" - a person who hires artisans. Usually, in the Mishnah, the term 'uman' refers to a person with a specific expertise in a craft, but here the intention is generally to any artisan or worker, including all three methods: a contractor, a day laborer, and a worker.
For comparison, the next chapter, Chapter Seven, opens with the words "hasocher es hapoalim", and there it speaks of workers who work by the hour in a specific job; whereas here it speaks of all types of work. The first question that the Mishnah discusses is who bears the responsibility when one of the parties - the employer or the worker - misleads the other.
"Ve'hit'u zeh es zeh" - Two explanations:
The Mishnah states: "Hasocher es ha'umanin ve'hit'u zeh es zeh - ein lahem zeh al zeh ela taromes" - One who hires artisans and they misled one another, they have nothing against one another but complaints. The Gemara brings two explanations for the question of who misleads whom.
The first explanation, brought in the Baraisos: An employer who is building a house and maintaining a construction site, finds one person with building skills and says to him: "Do me a favor and find me three more of your friends. I will pay everyone ten dollars an hour." The agent finds the workers, but they contract for only nine dollars an hour. It turns out that the man who was supposed to offer them ten misled them by offering nine. The workers agreed to nine, and afterward it is revealed to them that they were supposed to receive ten - but they had already committed to nine.
Regarding this, the Mishnah says: "Ein lahem zeh al zeh ela taromes" - They have nothing against one another but complaints. Taromes means a grievance. Since the workers agreed to work for nine, that is what they receive. Even though they lost out - since the employer was willing to pay ten and they would have received ten - they have no claim on the level of a beis din, neither a monetary claim against the employer nor against the agent, the middleman who caused them to agree to nine. They have no claim in a beis din down below, nor even up in Heaven, since they agreed to work for nine. All they have left is a complaint - they have the right to be aggrieved that they lost out because of the agent.
The novelty in this: Wherever it says "he has nothing but complaints", the meaning is that there is no actual monetary claim, but there is certainly a right to feel frustration and anger. Usually, it is forbidden for a Jew to bear a grudge against his fellow, and he must forgive every Jew, and do so every night; but here, since the middleman did indeed cause damage to those workers, it is their full right to say that an injustice was done to them, and to demand that he ask forgiveness on Yom Kippur, or to withhold forgiveness from him. It turns out that this is not a monetary matter, but it is a true and legitimate claim between man and his fellow, which requires interpersonal forgiveness and appeasement, meaning reconciliation.
The second explanation, which the Bartenura explains, and it too is brought in the Gemara: The employer and the worker mislead one another in a way that ultimately does not cause a financial loss. The employer agreed the previous day: "I am hiring you for ten dollars an hour, come to the construction site." At five in the morning he calls and announces: "Do not come today, I changed my mind, I am going on a ski vacation." Now the workers have a problem and they must look for a new job. The assumption of the Mishnah is that if they invest effort, they will find other work; and since other jobs will be found for them - even though it involves bother, time, and effort - they did not lose money, and therefore they have nothing against the employer but complaints.
The opposite direction is equally true: the workers call in the morning, before arriving at the construction site, and announce, "The waves are good today, we are going surfing instead. Sorry, have a good day." They do not show up, even though they committed to arriving, because they want to go surfing. Assuming the employer will wait and get another worker the next day, and things are delayed or cause him inconvenience and the hassle of searching for new workers, but he does not lose money - he has nothing against them except a grievance for their misbehavior, and nothing more.
Davar Ha'aved (An Irrecoverable Loss):
All this is assuming that we are not dealing with a situation of "davar ha'aved", an irrecoverable loss, where one of the parties suffers a loss due to the last-minute retraction. The Mishnah brings examples of an irrecoverable loss, where there is a monetary claim.
"Socher es hachamar ve'es hakadar" - the employer hires a donkey driver, one who leads donkeys, and a potter. According to the version we have, this refers to a maker of earthenware vessels, and it is assumed he has a wagon and therefore functions as a wagon driver; in fact, the Bartenura has the text "karar", one who drives a carriage or wagon.
The bottom line is that he hires someone to make a delivery and bring something: "lehavi pirpirin vachalilim" - to bring pirpirin and flutes. According to the Bartenura, pirpirin is a type of wood, wicker, or the like, primarily used to make a special chair for the bride to sit on; while the Aruch explains that they are musical instruments. And he also hires the messengers to bring flutes, "lekallah o lamet" - for a bride or for the deceased. These items are brought for a wedding or a funeral, and the wedding or funeral is taking place today. The flute is needed today, and if it is brought tomorrow - the host is in trouble. If the donkey driver or the wagon driver announce that they are going surfing or skiing, the one making the wedding is left in distress, as he cannot wait until tomorrow.
In these two examples, it is a situation where the person suffers great inconvenience and deep aggravation because of the wedding or funeral, but he does not incur an actual monetary loss: if there are no flutes at the wedding or funeral - there simply will not be any, and this does not cost him money, but only causes him distress.
Another case of an irrecoverable loss: "ufo'alin leha'alos pishtano min hamisrah" - he hired workers to bring his flax up from the steeping pool. To make linen cloth, the fibers must be extracted from the flax plant. The plant is left to steep in a pool for several weeks, and the soaking softens it: the bacteria in the water along with the bacteria in the pool separate the bast fibers, which are the desired flax fibers, from the rest of the plant, as the pectin, the protein that acts like a glue, dissolves. The process takes about two weeks. If the plant remains there for two weeks, the fibers can be properly extracted; but if it remains for too long, it will rot and the flax will be ruined.
Thus, this is a "now or never" situation, a time-sensitive matter: on the day the steeping process reaches its conclusion, the flax must be removed from the water immediately, and it is impossible to wait. If on that morning, the big day of taking out the flax, the workers announce that they are not coming to help because they are going surfing - not only is the flax owner completely stuck, but he is going to lose a lot of money, because his flax will be ruined. This is a financial loss, and it is also categorized as an irrecoverable loss.
"Vechol davar ha'aved" - and any irrecoverable loss, meaning any case where a financial loss is caused if the work is not done now, today, and the person is left stuck, "vechazru bahen" - and the workers retracted and did not show up for work. It is worth noting that an irrecoverable loss can also work in the opposite direction: workers who were hired for today, and the employer cancels on them at the last minute, before they arrive at the worksite. This is also an irrecoverable loss on their part, as they can claim: "If you had not said you were going to hire us, we would have found other work; now you are canceling on us on the morning of the workday, and we cannot find a new job, so we have lost a full day's wages here." In both of these cases, there is financial compensation.
"Socher aleyhen" and "Mat'an":
"Makom she'ein sham adam" - a place where there is no one else available. Here the focus is on the employer. If he is unable to find a new wagon driver to deliver the flute, or someone to take out the flax, at the same price - "socher aleyhen" - he has the right to hire other workers on their account. Meaning: the workers were supposed to take out the flax for a hundred dollars; he cannot find anyone to do it for a hundred, but he finds someone who will do it for a hundred and twenty-five. He hires the new worker for a hundred and twenty-five, and is permitted to sue the workers who left him stuck in Beis Din for the missing twenty-five dollars. They bear the responsibility.
The liability of those workers who did not show up and left the homeowner with an irrecoverable loss is limited to the total amount they were supposed to earn in the deal. If the replacement workers demand two hundred, he will pay two hundred out of pocket and get one hundred back; and if they demand three hundred, he will pay three hundred out of pocket, and he can only sue the workers who left him stuck in Beis Din for a maximum of one hundred.
Alternatively, if he cannot find anyone to do the job at any price, and the workers are trying to extort him: they know that today is his wedding, and he needs them now or all is lost. They say, "True, we agreed to bring the flute for a hundred dollars, but now we demand five hundred." He is stuck and cannot find a plan B. The workers are behaving terribly, since they agreed to bring it for a hundred, and now they have the employer exactly where they want him, exploiting his distress on his wedding day.
Regarding this the Mishnah says, "Matan" - he is allowed to trick them and mislead them. If he has no alternative, he can say, "Fine, I give in, I need the flute. Bring it to me and I will pay you five hundred." Once he receives the flute, he pays them only one hundred, and they cannot extort him. He has every right to do this, because these people are extorting him after they agreed to do it for one hundred, and now they are backing out or changing the agreement at the last minute, which is unacceptable. Therefore, since it is an irretrievable loss, he is permitted, having no other choice, to get them to do the work and then not pay them the extra amount.
In summary: In this Mishnah we learned the methods of employment - a contractor, a worker, and a day laborer - and the laws regarding those who mislead one another. In a case where there is no monetary loss, the parties only have a grievance against each other: not a claim in Beis Din, but a legitimate interpersonal complaint that requires forgiveness and appeasement. On the other hand, in a case where there is an irretrievable loss - such as flutes for a bride or for a corpse, or flax that must be lifted from the steeping pool - there is financial liability: the employer can hire others at the workers' expense up to the amount of their wages, and in a case where there is no one else and they exploit his distress, he is permitted to trick them and ultimately pay the amount that was originally agreed upon.