Study Shevuot folio 45B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אי הכי, אפילו קצץ נמי! אלמה תניא: אומן אומר ״שתים קצצת לי״, והלה אומר ״לא קצצתי לך אלא אחת״ – המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה? קציצה ודאי מידכר דכיר ליה.
If so, then even with regard to the amount fixed as payment, the employer is apt to be forgetful. Why, then, is it taught in a baraita: If the craftsman says: You fixed two coins as my payment and the other, the employer, says: I fixed only one coin as your payment, the halakha is that the burden of proof rests upon the claimant? The craftsman must bring witnesses to collect the additional sum; an oath is not sufficient. Why is it not assumed that the employer is distracted, and the craftsman would be allowed to take an oath and collect the amount he claims? The Talmud answers: With regard to the fixing of wages, he certainly remembers.
אי הכי, אפילו עבר זמנו נמי! אלמה תניא: עבר זמנו ולא נתן לו – הרי זה אינו נשבע ונוטל?
The Talmud asks: If so, then even if the time the wages were due had passed, the worker should be able to prove that he has not been paid by taking an oath. Why, then, is it taught in a baraita that if the established time for paying wages had passed, i.e., the night after the work was performed, and the employer had not given the worker his wages, he no longer can take an oath and receive his wages, but rather must bring witnesses to prove that he was not yet paid.
חזקה אין בעל הבית עובר ב״בל תלין״. והאמרת: בעל הבית טרוד בפועליו הוא! הני מילי – מקמי דלימטי זמן חיובא הוא; כי מטי זמן חיובא – רמי אנפשיה ומידכר.
The Talmud answers: There is a presumption that the employer will not violate the prohibition against delaying payment of wages (see Leviticus 19:13) and will have paid the worker by the deadline. The Talmud asks: But didn’t you say that the employer is distracted with his laborers and is apt to forget to pay? The Talmud responds: This statement, that he is presumed to be distracted, applies only before the time arrives that he incurs liability for delaying payment of wages. When the time that he incurs liability arrives, he takes it upon himself to remember to pay.