Mrs. Wilk was straightening her house when the doorbell rang. “Oh good!” she exclaimed. “Shaindy’s here.”
Mrs. Wilk opened the door. “Good morning, Shaindy,” she said to her cleaning woman. “I sure need your help this morning. There are lots of dishes left over from the party last night, and I haven’t had a chance to wash them. We used Bernie’s favorite set of china, the one with the royal blue swirl.”
“That set is lovely,” Shaindy acknowledged. She had washed that china numerous times.
“What’s great is that the set came in service for 24, so we had enough for everybody,” added Mrs. Wilk. “At least it used to have service for 24; over the years, we’re down to 20.”
“That happens,” said Shaindy. “We’re always breaking dishes in my house, too.”
“I wouldn’t say it happens all the time,” said Mrs. Wilk, smiling. “I try to be very careful.”
Shaindy put on a cleaning apron. “I’ll get started with the dishes,” she said.
Shaindy put a load of dishes in the dish washer, and then went to clean the house. An hour later she returned to unload the dishwasher and stack the dishes on the counter. As she was stacking the plates, one of them slipped from her hands with a loud crash!
Mrs. Wilk came running.
“I’m so sorry,” Shaindy said. “’I was trying to be careful, but somehow the plate slipped.”
“There’s nothing to do now,” said Mrs. Wilk, “but I know that Bernie will be very upset. He gets upset every time one of these dishes break.”
When Mr. Wilk returned home that evening, he noticed the broken pieces of china in the garbage. “What happened to the china plate?” he asked his wife.
“Shaindy was stacking the dishes and one fell,” Mrs. Wilk explained. “She was trying to be careful.”
“I’d like to deduct $10 from her pay,” said Mr. Wilk.
“That’s not fair,” said his wife. “It was an accident; she didn’t mean to break the plate.”
“She has to be more careful,” insisted Mr. Wilk.
“There are times that we, too, break dishes when we wash them,” protested Mrs. Wilk. “That’s life!”
“But we’re paying her good money for cleaning,” argued Mr. Wilk. “There’s no point in paying her and then having dishes broken.”
“It seems unreasonable to me to hold her accountable for each broken dish!” said his wife. “How about we ask Rabbi Tzedek what he thinks?”
“Great idea,” replied Mr. Wilk. “I’ll give him a call.”
Mr. Wilk called Rabbi Tzedek. “Our cleaning lady broke a china plate while stacking the dishes,” he said. “Is it fair to deduct $10 from her salary on account of the damage?”
Rabbi Tzedek replied, “In principle, the cleaning woman is responsible for what she damages during her work. However, the general practice is not to be particular about damage like this, unless it was through gross negligence.”
Rabbi Tzedek then explained: “The Talmud Yerushalmi addresses the case of a wife who damaged her husband’s property during the course of her household chores. It exempts the woman based on the rationale that otherwise, ‘ain lecha shalom habayis.’ If the husband would be able to insist on payment, it would undermine the relationship between the husband and wife (Even Ha’ezer 80:17).
“The implication of this statement is that, in principle, the woman is legally responsible for the damage, even though it occurred through fulfilling household chores. The reason is that the wife has the legal status of a shomer sachar, a paid guardian, because she fulfills these chores in return for the husband’s responsibilities and obligations towards her. As such, she should be responsible for the items that she handles – unless they are broken through circumstances beyond her control (oness) – were it not for the concern of shalom bayis.”
“This refers to a wife, though,” noted Mr. Wilk. “What about a cleaning woman?”
“Obviously, the exemption of shalom bayis does not apply to her,” replied Rabbi Tzedek. “Therefore, a cleaning woman should be liable for what she damages in the course of her work. The same is true for other professionals who damage (with the exception of porters, who have another exemption; see C.M. 304:1).
“Nonetheless, since it is commonplace that dishes get broken occasionally in the course of household chores, the practice of most homeowners is not to be particular with their cleaning help over small items, unless they were grossly negligent (Pischei Teshuva C.M. 331:1; Aruch Hashulchan 331:7).”