Can a court date be postponed until you pay what you owe for rent?

I would guess that your situation is that you will not be able to pay your rent if you take time off work in order to appear in court. The problem with this situation is that you pay rent every month, and so no matter when you take time off work, it will affect your ability to pay your rent (unless for some reason this current month has been unusually expensive for you). It would seem that your best approach, if your finances are that precarious, would be to try to schedule a vacation day that will allow you to appear in court and still be paid your usual amount. You can certainly petition the court for a postponement but I don't think you have a strong case, unless you can show that you are not just putting off the problem of paying rent from this month to next month, and even then, the judge may not be sympathetic to a person who has no savings, no reserve, and spends every penny the instant he or she obtains it. A prudent person knows that there will sometimes be unusual expenses in life, or interruptions of income, and prepares.