Hi, I wanted to hire a Dayworker for a few hours to help me clean fri night Shabbat dinner. How can I do it that it’s legal to pay her for this?
Hiring workers on shabbat is not allowed whether or not they are Jewish.
However, you can hire someone for a block of days for a set price for the block even if one of the days included in the block is a shabbat. However it can’t be based on a price per day.
For example, if you hire someone for a 3 day block for a total of $300. If they don’t show up for one day and you deduct $100 that would show that you really hired that person by the day. However, if the worker gets paid the full amount even if they miss a day or they get paid zero if they miss a day that would show they are getting paid for the block and it would be allowed.
If you say I am hiring you for 3 days at $100 a day that would also be a problem.
Personally, I project how many hours my cleaning lady will work in a given week based on her schedule and then I multiply hours by hourly rate. Then I tell my cleaning lady I am going to pay her $xxx.xx for the week without mentioning any hours.
Sometimes my cleaning lady misses a day or two and I still pay her the full amount.
If she works more I don’t pay her more.
It’s not hourly, its a weekly price.