If a Jewish landowner hires a non-Jewish employee to work his field, under what circumstances may the gentile work the field on Shabbat?
The Rambam (Rabbi Moshe Maimonides, Spain-Egypt, 1135-1204), in Hilchot Shabbat (6:12,14), establishes the rule that a Jew may have a gentile work for him on Shabbat if he sets a fixed price for the job, as opposed to a daily wage. If the gentile is paid for the job, and not for the day, he may work for the Jew on Shabbat because it is his choice to perform the work on Shabbat. Technically speaking, his work on Shabbat is not performed at the behest of the Jew, since the Jew does not pay him specifically to work on Shabbat, and hence he may perform the given activity on Shabbat.
The Rambam makes an exception, however, in cases of visible labor. If the work can be seen by other Jews, the gentile employee may not perform the given activity on Shabbat, as onlookers may mistakenly think that the Jew hired him on a daily wage. In order to avoid suspicion, a Jew may allow the gentile to work only in private, or outside the "Tehum" (the area within which Jews may walk on Shabbat outside a town) of his locale.
The Shulhan Aruch codifies this Halacha in the laws of Shabbat (Orah Haim 243:1), but draws a distinction in this regard between agricultural work and other activities. Owners of agricultural fields generally hire workers on the basis of a sharecropping arrangement, or "Arisut," whereby the laborer earns a percentage of the profits earned from the field's produce. Since sharecroppers are not paid a daily wage, under such an arrangement a gentile worker may work for a Jewish landowner on Shabbat. Therefore, the Shulhan Aruch rules, gentile laborers may work a field for a Jewish landowner on Shabbat even in public view, and even within the "Tehum." Everybody knows that these laborers work according to a sharecropper arrangement, and they will thus not suspect the Jewish landowner of violating the Shabbat laws by hiring gentile laborers on Shabbat.
Would this Halacha also apply in a case of "Sechirut," where the gentile is paid a flat monthly or annual rate, rather than percentages?
At first glance, under such an arrangement, too, we should allow the laborer to work for the Jew on Shabbat. Since he is not hired to work specifically on Shabbat, he is not technically considered as working on Shabbat at the Jew's behest. This is indeed the position taken by some authorities. Others, however, rule that the laborer may not work on Shabbat in such a case, because people who observe him working might inquire and discover that he is not hired on a percentage-based arrangement. They might then mistakenly assume that he is a day laborer, receiving a daily wage, and they will thus suspect the Jewish landowner of transgressing the prohibitions of Shabbat. Therefore, according to these authorities, if a gentile laborer is hired for agricultural work on the basis of any arrangement other than the sharecropping system, the Jew must not allow him to work the field on Shabbat.
Rav Shemuel Pinhasi (contemporary scholar in Israel) rules that if the field is situated beyond the "Tehum" of one's town, then he may rely on the lenient position. Inside the "Tehum," however, one should not allow his gentile laborer to work the field unless he receives a percentage-based pay.
Summary: A Jewish landowner may allow a gentile laborer to work the field on Shabbat if the laborer's pay is based on a percentage of the profits yielded by the crop. If the laborer receives a daily wage, the Jewish employer may not allow him to work the field on Shabbat. If the laborer is paid based on some other arrangement (not based on a percentage or a daily wage), then the gentile may work the field on Shabbat only if it is situated outside the "Tehum" – the area outside the town within which one may walk on Shabbat.
