The Shulhan Aruch, in Hoshen Mishpat (339:10), rules that an employer violates the prohibition of "Bal Talin" – delaying the payment of wages – only if the employee demands his wages and the employer does not pay. If, however, the employee agrees to wait, the employer is allowed to delay payment. The Zohar, however, as cited in Pit’heh Teshuba, rules more stringently, and writes that an employer must pay wages on time even if the employee does not demand immediate payment.
Furthermore, the Hafetz Haim (Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin, 1839-1933) writes that if an employee wants his wages, but, for whatever reason, he is unable to contact his employer, the employer violates the prohibition of "Bal Talin." Even though the employer is unaware of the fact that his worker wants to be paid at that time, he nevertheless transgresses this Torah prohibition.
An employer who withholds wages from his worker violates the prohibition only once; he does not transgress anew each day that goes by without his paying the employee. The practical implications of this Halacha pertain to a case of an employer who is scheduled to pay some workers on the first of the month, for example, and the others on the tenth of the month. If on the first of the month the employer does not pay the workers who were supposed to be paid that day, and then on the tenth of the month he does not have enough money to pay all his workers, he should pay the workers who are owed wages on the tenth of the month. With regard to the workers scheduled to receive payment on the first of the month, the employer has already transgressed the Torah prohibition, and does not incur a new violation each day. He should therefore first pay the workers owed salary on the tenth of the month, in order to avoid violating a new prohibition by delaying their salary. Although this ruling is counterintuitive, this is, indeed, the Halacha.
Summary: Technically speaking, an employer may delay paying his workers if they agree to the delay, but the Zohar writes that one should pay wages on time even in such a case. If a person has workers on different pay schedules, such as on the first of the month and the tenth of the month, and by the tenth of the month he had not yet paid the workers who were owed salary on the first, he should first pay the workers owed on the tenth, in order to avoid incurring a new violation.
