2. A person who did not personally hire the workers but sent a messenger to hire them, and that messenger informed them from the outset that it is the employer who will be paying their wages – neither the employer nor the messenger will transgress bal talinif they do not pay on that day. Even if the messenger did not explicitly inform them that he is not the one who will be paying them, but they understood on their own that he is merely a messenger, that is enough to exempt the employer.
Nevertheless, if the employer has the funds but pushes them off for no reason, he transgress the Rabbinic prohibition of Do not tell your neighbor, “Leave and come back; tomorrow I will give it,” when it is already by you (Mishlei 3:28). Still, if the reason for his delay is that he is [genuinely] busy and does not have the time just then, he does not transgress the prohibition [of Do not tell your neighbor etc.].
