I own a bungalow colony and hired a roofer to repair seven roofs. After he completed three of the roofs I told him that I don’t need him to repair the remaining four, since I found someone who will do it more cheaply. He claims that he was hired to repair seven roofs and I cannot fire him.

Q: Am I obligated to retain the roofer to complete the remaining four roofs?

A: We will not address the question of mechusar amanah (retracting an oral agreement), since we have done so many times in the past. The question we will address is whether you are obligated to retain his employment for the entire job that he began. There is a kinyan that applies when hiring employees called has’chalas melachah — lit., beginning the job. This means that once an employee begins his assigned job, his employer may not cancel that employment agreement unless the decision is due to circumstances beyond his control (oness). The question here is whether beginning to repair one of the seven roofs constitutes a kinyan for all seven roofs, or whether each roof is considered a separate job.

The Rema (C.M. 333:2) rules that a teacher or any other employee who accepts an employment agreement for two years and begins working the first year is considered to have a kinyan even for the second year. Therefore, even if the agreement is to pay the employee annually, monthly or weekly, we do not consider those payment periods to be independent periods of employment. It is a single employment agreement, and one kinyan at the outset suffices for the entire period (cf. Bais Shlomo C.M. 115 and Minchas Pitim 315).

This is true regarding employees who were hired for a continuous period of time, so that the kinyan at the outset extends for the entire duration of the employment agreement. But when an employment agreement is to perform a series of tasks — for example, to publish different books or to manufacture different garments — and the payment is calculated per item that is produced, each item is considered a separate job and there is nothing that connects the production of one garment with the next. Since each object is an independent job, the kinyan of haschalas melachah for one item does not obligate the employer to keep the employee for the next job. On the other hand, if the agreement was to produce a particular number of books or garments and the parties agreed on a price for the total number of garments or books, it is considered a single employment agreement; once the job is commenced, neither party may cancel the remainder of the employment agreement (Mahariyaz Enzil 15).

Therefore, the following issues must be clarified to determine the halachah in your case: (a) whether there is an issue of mechusar amanah; (b) whether a contract was signed for the entire job, because if so, neither party may cancel the agreement; (c) whether the roofer rejected other jobs because he anticipated repairing all seven roofs (If he did, you may not cancel the agreement if he will not be able to find other jobs and thereby will suffer a loss due to your cancelation.); (d) whether the price was established for the set of all seven roofs, in which case you may not cancel; or whether the price was set individually, in which case you might be permitted to cancel the agreement.