Employees Responsibilities - 1

The issues

Many people are aware of the duties that employers owe their employees, like the obligation to provide a safe working environment. But what responsibilities does an employee owe an employer, other than doing one's work in an honest manner?
What does Judaism say about things an employee does outside his hours of work and which might affect the way he does his job?
Is an employee permitted to use business and office property for personal use?

The Jewish Perspective

A. An employee is not allowed to take on extra work after he finishes his regular work if the result of him doing so is that he is unable to perform his regular properly the following day. Obviously, if the employer agrees, or if the employee is working overtime for the same employer, he is permitted to do so -- even if his daytime performance will be adversely affected.

An employee is explicitly forbidden to do any work "on the side" for anyone else during the hours of work for which he is paid by his primary employer.

An employee who has a succession of late nights on account of social or other private events may find that this affects the way he performs his duties during the day. This is seen as a form of theft from one's employer.

B. An employee may not use any of his employer's property for personal use without first obtaining permission from the employer. Accordingly an employee may not use the office telephone, copier, stationery or office equipment for non-office use.

If the employer does not explicitly permit personal use, such use is still prohibited even though it is well known that many employees do indeed use the employer's property without permission when he is not looking,. The fact that "everyone does it" does not in any way create a "Minhag HaMedina" (general custom and practice) that such use is permitted. However, if the employee knows that the employer permits such use, even if only reluctantly, he may do so.

C. If the employee is unsure about how his employer feels about personal use of business property, but is unwilling to ask him directly, he should act upon the following principles. (i) If he has no qualms about using business property for personal use in the presence of his employer and does not attempt to hide this from him, he may do so. (ii) If however he is afraid to do this in his presence, or even if he is merely uncomfortable or embarrassed to do so in his presence (and he does not know that the employer actually permits this), he should refrain from using business property for personal use.