Financial

Most people do not own their own businesses and are employed by someone else. An employee who is paid by the hour or even one who is paid a salary to work during certain hours, is expected and required to use all of his work-time doing what the boss assigns him to do. To the extent that the boss allows his workers to speak to their family, respond to personal emails, or do other things which are not work-related during work-hours, the employee may do so. Other than that, the employee’s time “belongs” to the boss, and any use of the time for non-work items is essentially stealing from the boss.

It is forbidden to steal from both Jews and non-Jews. While there may be specific limited situations when one is permitted to keep something that used to belong to someone else, a Mashgiach is expected to hold himself to a higher standard and be overly scrupulous about other people’s money. This applies to the way he bills for his time and expenses, the use of property and food from an establishment, and many other areas. While we may see ourselves as “regular people” in our day to day lives, our kashrus roles demand more of us.

All employees must be timely in arriving to work because they are being paid for their time (if they receive a weekly salary) and because the boss may be counting on their being there on time. This is even more important for a Mashgiach because in many cases the restaurant or caterer cannot begin operations until the Mashgiach arrives. Thus, a Mashgiach who is late for work may be affecting many people’s ability to get their jobs done.

A boss has a requirement to pay his workers “on time”. If no specific arrangement is made, the employee must be paid before the first sunrise or sunset following the work-period. For example, if a Mashgiach oversees an event on Tuesday from 4-11 PM, he must be paid before sunrise on Wednesday morning. If, however, the employee agreed to receive payment at some later time (e.g., the end of the month), then the employer has leeway to not pay the employee until then. The same is true if it is generally accepted in that industry or locale to not pay employees right away.

The principle of dina d’malchusah dina teaches us that we have a halachic obligation to comply with the civil laws of the country we live in. A prominent example of where dina d’malchusah dina applies is to the area of taxes. This means that Mashgichim (and all others) must be paid “on the books”, and pay the appropriate taxes on salary and tips as required by the national and local laws in force at any given time.

A Mashgiach who is asked to do something which is illegal or dangerous or which endangers the health of patrons, should (obviously) refuse to comply. Furthermore, the fact that a boss would make such a request reflects poorly on his judgement and trustworthiness, and the Mashgiach who is asked to do something of this nature should consider whether it warrants reporting to Rabbi Eisenbach or Rabbi Katz.