If Someone Owns a Large Company With All Types of Workers, How Can He Avoid Problems of Work Being Done on Shabbos?

Rav Yosef Kushner

Question: Someone owns a large company with all types of workers, including sechirai yom, arisin and kablanim, what is the recommended way for him to avoid problems of non-Jews working for him on Shabbos? 

Answer: The best recommendation for him would be to close the business on Shabbos. If this isn’t possible, we would have to recommend a different solution. 

As we explained, if it wouldn’t be viable for the business to exist without non-Jewish employees working on Shabbos, it would be permitted to ask those with the status of an arus or a kablan to work. The real problem is those with the status of a sechir yom, who are paid for their time and are never allowed to work for a Jew on Shabbos. 

The solution for this problem is to appoint a non-Jewish manager to run all of the operations and to put all of the employees under him. Rav Moshe Feinstein explains in a teshuva that if the employees have a manager who takes care of paying them and generally is viewed as their boss, they are considered to be working for him, and not for the Jewish owner of the businesses, whom they have no interaction with. Accordingly, the non-Jewish manager would be allowed to tell them to work on Shabbos. 

This type of arrangement is often easier said than done; therefore, one should consult with a knowledgeable Rav before putting it into effect to determine that it is being done correctly.