Shraga worked as the head waiter for a caterer, doing bar mitzvahs, sheva brachos and family simchos. For a weekend affair, each waiter earned $300.
“I’m short a waiter this Shabbos,” the caterer said to Shraga. “See if you can find someone else. It’s $300 for the weekend, like the other waiters.”
Shraga asked Dan. “We need another waiter this weekend,” he said. “Are you interested?”
“How much for the weekend?” Dan asked.
Shraga decided to try his luck and save the caterer some money. “It’s $250 for the weekend,” Shraga offered. “Is that OK with you?”
“That’s great,” replied Dan. “I’m available.”
On Motzoei Shabbos, after cleaning up, the waiters came to collect their wages from the caterer. Dan noticed that the other waiters each received $300. When he inquired, they all said: “That’s what the caterer always pays!”
When it came Dan’s turn, Shraga said to the caterer: “We agreed on $250 for the weekend.”
“I noticed that the other waiters got $300,” Dan protested. “What did the caterer offer?”
“He offered $300 but you agreed to $250,” said Shraga. “You even said that it was great.”
“I thought that’s what everyone else got,” replied Dan. “I didn’t realize that the caterer offered $300. I should get whatever salary he offered!”
“What difference does that make?” replied Shraga. “What counts is the agreement that we made. I said $250 and you accepted.”
“It was wrong of you to say $250,” said Dan. “Regardless, what should count is not what you said but what the caterer offered. I should get $300.”
The caterer suggested approaching Rabbi Dayan. “Shraga hired me to work for his caterer for $250,” said Dan. “I found out that the caterer offered $300, as usual. How much am I entitled to?”
“The Mishnah (B.M. 75b) teaches that if someone hired workers and they misled one another, they have only a rightful complaint (tar’omes) against each other,” answered Rabbi Dayan. “One interpretation is our case. One of the workers, who was an agent of the employer, misled the other employees and arranged with them a lower salary than the employer offered. In this case, the workers receive only the salary that they agreed to, but they have a rightful complaint against the coworker who misled them” (C.M. 332:2).
“What about the fact that the work is worth more?” asked Dan. “I did a good job!”
“Even so, since the employees agreed to the salary that the coworker stated, they are not legally entitled to more,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “This is no different from any worker who willingly agreed to work at a discounted salary” (Pischei Choshen, Sechirus 8:15[36]).
“But if the employees agreed to this salary, why do they have a rightful complaint?” asked Shraga.
“Since the employer willingly offered to give more,” replied Rabbi Dayan, “the employees have a rightful complaint against the coworker who denied them potential benefit, as it says in Mishlei (3:27), ‘Do not withhold good from its rightful recipient when you have the power to do so.’ They have a right to be upset with him. He owes them an apology and should try to appease them, but he has no financial responsibility to them” (Tiferes Yisrael, B.M. 6:[3]; Pischei Choshen, Sechirus 10:[7]).
“However, if the coworker had said: ‘$250, like the other workers,’ and the employees responded, ‘We accept, like the other workers,’ the Rema maintains that the employer is required to pay $300,” Rabbi Dayan concluded. “In this case, they agreed not to the specific salary quoted, but to the going rate of the other workers” (C.M. 332:4; Sma 332:10; see also Shach 332:10).