Working on Chol Hamoed

amother

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 9:16 pm

I wanted to ask this to people of different backgrounds.
If one works for a large company (400+ employees) that may or may not be Jewish that operates on Chol Hamoed, do you just automatically come to work because it's a regular work day? Ask a Rav? Or just don't show up because "duh it's chol hamoed and we don't work"?

The reason for my post is I'm trying to get more clarity on how the whole not working part works.
I know that ideally, one is not allowed to work, but obviously a lot of companies are open and there are thousands of people working.
If I have someone on my team letting me know that they cannot work, another frum person will be asked to work in her place.
Morally do you (and your rav) feel okay with that?
For argument sake if you were to lose your job for not coming in an entire week will that change you or your ravs mind?

One last thing if your company were to have a clause stating that these days were regular working days ( meaning if we cannot accommodate your day off you will be required to work) will you take the job?

I'm just curious what your thoughts are.
I know I'm probably going to get bashed but I really want to hear the other side of this.

Thank you for reading!

notshanarishona

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 9:31 pm

Don’t automatically assume anything, that’s the type of thing that should be discussed in advance. Will some people refuse to work in a job which requires Chol Hamoed work ? For sure..
The nice thing as a frum employer is to let everyone take off as much as the business can afford.

amother

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 9:32 pm

amother Lily wrote:

I don’t think you have to loose your job but maybe you can use your vacation time

Correct vacation is definitely an option but what happens when an entire team wants to take their vacation days at the same time? At some point some people have to be told no. Right?

amother

Almond

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 9:39 pm

I don’t have much choice based on the timing . They do try to accommodate yet I still need to complete my work. I may give all the money I earn over Chol Hamoed to tzedaka though.
In my company one team is all frum and they are all taking off for the most part but each took one day to be on call in case an emergency comes up and to address any urgent matter that can’t wait. They use it as a weeks paid time off .

amother

Navyblue

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 9:49 pm

amother OP wrote:

Correct vacation is definitely an option but what happens when an entire team wants to take their vacation days at the same time? At some point some people have to be told no. Right?

I have no idea what typemof company you run, but I've worked in secular offices where people are out for their holidays and the office is practically empty. Things get pushed off. It's just expected that things will be slow or delayed.

I will be working on chol hamoed. I just don't have enough time to be able to take off chol hamoed and yt. But I would never, ever work for a place that made a rule that you're never allowed to take off for chol hamoed.

amother

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 9:54 pm

Throwing out an example ( not my field) but accounting firms for example, the two busiest times of the year come out on yom tov.
And about a company policy for working on these days, this is something to protect the company because just by being Jewish does not automatically allow you to take off every chol hamoed day. A company can be nice and allowed to take off which most Jewish companies try very hard to do but it's not a right that should be expected.

notshanarishona

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 10:02 pm

I used to work in a busy medical practice, we took turns taking off for Chol Hamoed. This year especially there is a lot of days and easy to work it out for everyone to have their couple days of family time.

amother

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 10:03 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

That's great!

amother

Pumpkin

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 10:12 pm

amother Navyblue wrote:

I think it's different when most employees of a secular business take off at their holidays, because that's expected. When a frum company does a lot of business with non Jews, they very often can't close the business for a week.

The frum company my daughter works for is completely closed, the frum company I work for has us take turns coming in a certain amount of days each chol hamoed, depending on how it works out that year. And my sister just has to check her emails occasionally to make sure there aren't any emergencies. They both work for companies that closing for a week when the rest of the country is open won't affect their business. But it would have serious repercussions for the company I work for.

amother

Cobalt

Sun, Oct 01 2023, 10:17 pm

My team works together and each member must commit to at least one day that they'll be in on chol hamoed. We make sure there is coverage for at least one of us to be in each day, and then we can take our vacation days.