Who is worker
A person engaged to work on wages or a salary is called an employee, a labourer, a servant or a worker.
Plight of workers
The people who are financially weak usually work for someone else to earn their livelihood. As compared to the rich, these people are weak and hence many a time they are not given their due rights.
They too are human beings, but they are not considered so. Eating and drinking with them is considered below one's dignity. They are exploited and given work more than their strength and capability.
Sometimes more work is extracted on lower wages. A minor mistake by a worker provides an excuse for the employer to treat him like an animal.
Workers' rights under Islam
Allah and Prophet ﷺ have given clear instructions on the rights of this weak group to save them from exploitation and oppression:
1. Work to be given according to strength and capability:
Prophet ﷺ has said, "Your servants are your brothers and Allah has put them under your command. So, whoever has a brother under his command should feed him of what he eats and dress him of what he wears. Do not ask them to do things beyond their capacity and if you are compelled to do so, then help them in that work yourself." (Muslim)
2. Justice and Probity:
It is important to agree on the terms and conditions before starting any work to avoid any differences later. This will help both the employer and the employee to trust each other to accomplish the task well. Prophet ﷺ , therefore, has asked to refrain from engaging someone for work without fixing his remuneration. (Baihaqi) Similarly payment of wages as agreed prior to the beginning of the work should be promptly made when the work is completed.
There should be no unreasonable deductions from the due amount. "There will be three persons whose adversary I shall be on the Day of Resurrection and I shall be triumphant over my adversaries on that day: a person who gave a pledge upon my name and then broke it; a person who enslaved a free man, then sold him and devoured a price; and a man who hired a workeman, extracted work to full capacity but did notgiven him wages." (Ibn Maja)
3. Good treatment to workers:
Anas ibn Malik, close attendant of Prophet ﷺ said, "By Allah! I served Prophet ﷺ for ten years. During this period, Prophet ﷺ did not say ugh to me even once. He did not ask even once as to why I had done such and such thing and why I did not do such and such thing. During this period, if I damaged anything, Prophet ﷺ used to say: Leave it and do not say anything about it because what is destined has to happen." (Muslim)
Prophet ﷺ said, "When your servant prepares and brings food for you, remember that he has suffered from heat and smoke while cooking it. So you should make him sit and eat with you and if there are many members to be served and food is limited, then you should give the servant at least one or two morsels." (Muslim)
4. Overlooking mistakes:
To err is human and servants are no exception to this. As we expect others to forgive us for our lapses, so we too should overlook mistakes of our servants and forgive them.
A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked, "O Prophet ﷺ ! How many times should I forgive a servant? He gave no reply, so the man repeated the question. Prophet ﷺ replied: Forgive him seventy times daily" (Abu Dawood, Tirmizi)
Ayesha R narrated, "A man came and sat down in front of the Prophet ﷺ and said: O Prophet! ﷺ I have some slaves who lie to me, deceive me and disobey me, and I revile and beat them. How am I answerable to all this? Prophet ﷺ replied: On the Day of Resurrection, they will have to account for their deceit to you, for their disobedience to you and their lying to you, and you will have to account for the punishment you administered to them. If your punishment is in accordance with their offences, it will be accounted justifiably. You will neither get a reward nor a punishment. If your punishment to them will be less than their offence, then virtue equivalent to the excess offence will be added to your account. But if your punishment to them will be in excess of their offences, then the virtue equivalent to the excess punishment will be credited to their account deducting it from your account. On hearing this, that man went in a corner and began to shout and weep. Prophet ﷺ asked: Don't you read in the Qur'an:
"We shall set up just scales on the Day of Resurrection, so that no man in the least may be wronged. And even if an action as small as a grain of mustard seed, We shall bring it (for weighing). And We are sufficient to take account."
- (Al Ambiya: 47)
The man then said: O Prophet ﷺ ! By Allah! I find nothing better for myself and for them that I get separated from them. I call you to witness that they are all free. (Tirmizi)
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Allah and his messenger knows best