This was excerpted from a paper prepared by Rabbi Avram Israel Reisner on behalf of the Hekhsher Tzedek Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
The following halakhic teachings are key to the concept of hekhsher tzedek:
Wages and Benefits
The primary law about employee wages (Shulchan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat 331:1) holds that "[o]ne who hires employees should treat them in accordance with local custom."
But it is one of the features of Jewish business law that expressly ethical concerns are addressed. Bava Kamma 118a: "If one claims [without proof] — you owe me X, and the other does not remember, he should pay, in order to fulfill the demands of heaven." Shulchan Arukh 332:2:
"If the employer said, hire for me at 4 and the manager hired at 3, even though the quality of their work is worth 4, they receive only 3 — for that is what they agreed to. But they have reason to be angry with the manager."
This legally justified anger is a mark of the presence of injustice, which Hekhsher Tzedek seeks to address, following the model set by the Torah.
"You shall not coerce your neighbor… The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning." (Leviticus 19:13)
"You shall not abuse a needy and destitute laborer…. You must pay his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is needy and his life depends upon it; else he will cry out to God about you, and you will be judged to be guilty." (Deuteronomy 24:14-15)
"When you make a loan … to your neighbor, you may not enter his house to seize his pledge…. If he is a needy man, you shall not go to sleep in his pledge. You must return his pledge to him at sundown so that he may sleep in his cloak, and he will bless you, and it will be accounted to you as a righteous act." (Deuteronomy 24:10-13)
Bava Kamma 83a: Some porters broke the wine keg of Rabbah bar bar Chanan. He took their cloaks. They brought the matter before Rav. He told [Rabbah]: Give them back their cloaks. [Rabbah] said: Is that the law? [Rav] answered: Yes. "So that you might walk in the way of the worthy." (Mishlei 2:20) So he gave back the cloaks. They then said [to Rav]: We are poor people. We worked all day and are bent over [from the work], yet we have nothing [to show for it]. Said he [to Rabbah]: Go, pay their wages. Said [Rabbah]: Is that the law? [Rav] answered: Yes. "[A]nd follow in the paths of the righteous." (same verse)
Health and Safety
It is a positive commandment to remove any stumbling block that might endanger life.
Thus it is hardly surprising that an employer maintains the fundamental obligation that we all do of assuring that his possessions, in this case his business and all its physical parts, are not the agents of causing harm. Yet, as Arukh HaShulchan explains (Choshen Mishpat 410:4), this is a religious obligation, not one that is expressed as a financial obligation to pay damages if people are injured where they could be assumed to exercise responsibility for their own safety.
[T]he employer’s obligations toward his workers are greater than the standard obligation, a principle that can be seen at work in Bava Metzia 80b. The Mishnah ruled that the employer is responsible to pay for damage incurred when work demands depart from normal conditions.
This is summarized at the end of Choshen Mishpat (427:8):
It is a positive commandment to eliminate every hazard that endangers life…. If one did not eliminate it, but preserved the hazards that cause danger, one has overlooked a positive commandment and transgressed "you shall not bring blood-guilt into your house."
Product Development
Halakhah has always been exceedingly concerned with areas of commercial fraud and deception, as shown by the following examples:
Produce may not be mixed with other produce…. One does not mix the lees of wine with wine…. If one’s wine was diluted with water one must not sell it in a shop unless one informs [the customer], nor to a merchant, even if one informs him, because [the latter buys it] only in order to deceive [others]…. People, cattle, and utensils may not be made up. [Mishnah Bava Metzia 4:11-12]
One does not apply make-up to a person, a beast, or a utensil — for instance, to dye the beard of a slave who is to be sold so that he appears younger, or to give cattle a potion that causes its hair to fill out and stand on end so that it appears fatter … nor do you paint old vessels to appear new.... [Shulchan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat 228:9]
One who shorts a customer in weight or measure, even a non-Jew, transgresses the biblical prohibition, "Do not behave sinfully with yardstick, weight, or measuring-cup." (Leviticus 19:35). The court must appoint inspectors to circulate through the stores. Should they find anyone with a defective measure, weight, or scale they may punish and fine him as the court sees fit. A person may not keep a defective measure in his home, even though he does not use it, even in use as a urinal, lest someone who does not know should come along and use it. [Shulchan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat 331:1-3]
Also of concern is price-gouging:
Hoarders, usurers, shortchangers, and profiteers are the subject of the verse: "saying: when will the New Moon pass so that we may sell grain, [when will] the Sabbath [pass] so that we may set forth wheat, shorting the measure, overcharging, and falsifying with crooked weights?" (Amos 8:5) [Bava Batra 90a]
Corporate Integrity
There is an unambiguous obligation to avoid abetting or supporting wrongdoing directly. Thus, the clear ruling concerning purchasing stolen goods in Shulchan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat 356:1:
"It is forbidden to purchase a stolen article from a thief. This is a great sin, for one supports the hands of sinners and causes him to steal other things, for if he does not find a buyer he will not steal."
That is the overarching reason behind the establishment of Hekhsher Tzedek. No longer will we accept wrongdoing done in our name.
Animal Welfare
It is permissible, of course, to slaughter animals for our food or other needs, but, in the words of Rabbi Pamela Barmash (CJLS Responsum): "It is only the immediate steps leading to slaughter that fall under this penumbra of exception. Tormenting an animal for months until it is slaughtered ... does not."
Environmental Impact
"When the Holy One created the first man, He took him around all the trees in the Garden of Eden and said to him: See how beautiful and wonderful my works are. Everything I have created, I have created for you. Be mindful that you do not ruin and devastate my world; for if you ruin it, there is no one to repair it after you." [Kohelet Rabbah 7:13]
Sections
