The Working Poor 87

Likewise, in Sifre , the tannaitic midrash to Deuteronomy , it is taught that there is no transgression when the employer has pre­arranged with the worker to pay him later.** These modifications of the workers’ Torah rights were later codified in the Shulhan Arukh. In the following excerpts, note that Caro and Isserles preserve the workers’ Torah rights while at the same time establishing limits and modifications of those rights in keeping with the demands and customs of their day.

Hoshen Mishpat 339.3

An employer must pay a day-worker his wages during the night that follows the completion of his work. If he fails to pay him by morning, he violates the prohibition:“You shall not keep[wages] overnight[Lev. 19:13].” A night worker must be paid during the day that follows the completion of his work. If he is not paid by sunset, his employer violates the

prohibition:“On his day you shall give him his wages; neither shall the sun go down upon it”[Deut. 24:15].

(Isserles :“Workers today do not ordinarily work until nightfall, and they must therefore be paid by sunset like hourly-workers who complete their work in the middle of the day”).

Hoshen Mishpat 339.9

If a worker knows that his employer does not ordinarily have the money to pay his workers until the market day, the employer does not violate the prohibition against withholding wages if he fails to pay the worker on time even if he has the money to pay him. But the employer does violate the rabbinic prohibition if he continues to withhold a worker’s wages after the market day has arrived(based on Proverbs 3:28). (Isserles : This same goes for those who regularly do not pay until the wages have been calculated with the workers. They