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It occasionally happens that after a worker completed the service he was hired to provide, the one who hired him wants to pay him, but neither has small change. For example, the fee for the service is $50, but neither party has anything smaller than a $100 bill. Is it permissible for the customer to delay payment for another day or two until he gets the small bills? Or must he go out of his way to find small change right there and then?
The Hafetz Haim (Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin, 1839-1933) addresses this question in his work Ahabat Hesed (9:21), where he writes that it is the customer’s responsibility to obtain the bills and change necessary to pay the worker on time. Not having the correct change is not a valid excuse for delaying payment; he bears the obligation to whatever is necessary, even if this means incurring additional expense, to pay the worker immediately after the work is completed.
One common example of this Halacha is a car service. It occasionally happens that a person takes a car service in the morning with a driver he knows, and when he gets out of the cab he realizes that neither he nor the driver has small change. He might be inclined to tell the driver he’ll pay him the next day, but this is forbidden. He bears an obligation to do whatever he needs to do to obtain the change.
Of course, if the worker agrees to receive payment at a later time, then it is certainly permissible to delay payment. But if the worker insists that he needs the money immediately, the customer bears the responsibility to pay him right away.
It should be noted that according to the Ba’al Ha’tanya (Rav Sheneur Zalman of Liadi, 1745-1812), it is worthwhile to borrow money if necessary to pay a worker on time. Although this applies on the level of Middat Hasidut (a measure of special piety), and is not required on the level of strict Halacha, it demonstrates the importance afforded by the Rabbis to the obligation to pay one’s workers on time.
Summary: If a worker completed the service he was hired to provide, but neither he nor the customer has exact change, the customer bears the responsibility to do whatever is necessary to obtain small change so he could pay his worker, and may not delay payment to another day. If, however, the worker does not mind waiting to receive his payment, then certainly the customer may delay the payment.
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