Question: A couple hires a young girl as a babysitter for their children. When they return home at night they see that they do not have enough money in their wallets to pay her. Can they delay the payment to the babysitter until the next time that she comes to work for them?
Answer: The Torah commands us to pay the salary of a worker as soon as he or she finishes the work. One who delays paying violates a Torah prohibition and also does not perform a positive mitzva. (One who "takes possession" of a wage – that is, who declares that he will not pay at all – violates five different prohibitions. See Choshen Mishpat 339:2, and the article on "Bal Talin" in the Talmudic Encyclopedia.) On the other hand, the worker is allowed to waive the obligation and to agree to accept the payment at a later time. It is also possible to make an agreement in advance that the payments will be made at regular intervals and not after every individual job.
However, both of the above alternatives – waiving the obligation and making an advance agreement – are not recommended. With respect to a waiver, there are times when the babysitter will agree to the request only in order to avoid an unpleasant situation. In addition, when the babysitter is a child there are some who feel that she is not halachically capable of agreeing to a condition. And with respect to a prior agreement, while it alleviates the problem of the prohibition of not paying on time, there are those who feel that a person who makes such an agreement has forfeited the opportunity to fulfill the positive mitzva of paying on time.
It is written in the Talmud that if one who has hired does not have the money to pay the salary he does not violate the prohibition of paying the salary late (Bava Metzia 112). The Ritva discusses a dispute about whether one who hired a worker is obligated to sell his personal belongings in order to raise the money to pay. In the end the rabbis took a lenient position and ruled that the person should try to obtain the money as soon as possible but that he is not required to sell his own possessions. (See the article by Rabbi Tzvi Arnon in Techumin, volume 22.)
Thus, strictly speaking, one who does not have money available is allowed to delay the payment. But as is written in the Sefer Hachinuch, "In any case, every reasonable person should make sure to have the salary available before hiring a worker" [Mitzva 588]. In the book Alya Rabba it is written that the ARI ruled that one should be very careful about this matter and take care as much as possible to make payments for rent on time, even if the renter will be forced to borrow money to do this (Orach Chaim 232, Hilchot Tefillat Mincha). It is said that one time the ARI delayed the Mincha prayer in order to obtain the money to pay a worker who had done a job for him. Similar stories have been told about other prominent Torah scholars who tried to observe this law and to pay every hired worker on time.
Therefore, it is best to take a little more time and take money out of an ATM on the way home in order to fulfill a Torah mitzva!
