Consuming money given by maid Service Company

1-4-2018 | IslamWeb

Question:

AsslamualaikumA very critical question.I have a helper.who gets hourly paid.She is a student and busy most of the time.i ask her help in cleaning,child minding etc.an organization pays her.payment arrives in my account every month.this payment depends on how many hours she helped.total 32hours are paid.the helper hardly completes her hours.but still out of my favor she gets paid more than she work.for example she work 8hours but I make her to sign full hours and she gets payment.out of that payment I take small amount to give to my neighbors,who give me huge favor to mind my children especially when I need to go for shop for anything day or night. My neighbours are one old lady, one young daughter and two children of that daughter.daughter is working so the old lady takes care of my children.out of respect I can not pay that old lady to come and clean my place.still I pay her in form of presents.like when I do grocery ,get a bottle of milk for that lady.the small payment I take away from my helpers' payment I try honestly to give that lady but not in shape of money, I pay her in shape presents.Now my question is....If I do clean my own place when my helper is really not available,should I pay myself for those fixed hours I work my self. As if I look outside another helper,to find an honest person who do cleaning child minding even sometime in my absence is not easy to find.who will come over just for those limited hours. One more thing,i claim full hours from organisation because I don't want to loose this service.as I do need help of 32hours if my helper is available.Organization pays us because of wali's intellectual disabilityPlease reply.....is that OK to get paid for doing my own work.i will work while calculate the time of cleaning etc what ever I ask from my helper,when she is really not available.

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

It appears that what you are doing is cheating and deception. You either hire a servant who works all the hours and becomes entitled to a full wage, or clarify the reality of the matter to the organization that pays that salary. If the organization accepts, then there is no harm in that case, otherwise, it is not permissible for you to deceive them.

In addition, if you do the work yourself, then you are not allowed to take a fee for that unless the organization who pays the salary agrees to that. Therefore, the matter depends on that organization.

You should clarify to the organization the truth of the matter and that the servant (helper) does not work for the entire period [for which she was sent]. Clarify to them that, sometimes, you do the work yourself and, in return, you take part of the salary they pay to the servant, or that you take part of the salary and give it to neighbors who also help you in some matters.

If the organization accepts that and agrees that the matter stays as it is, and pays the full salary, then there is nothing wrong in taking part of it in return of what you have to do yourself or giving it to the neighbors. Otherwise, you are not entitled to deceive the organization and trick it by making the servant sign for entire working hours while she did not work them.

Allah knows best.

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