Short answer. As a rule, no. Article 104 requires payment of wages to be made at or near the place of undertaking. The only departures it allows are those set by regulations the Secretary of Labor may prescribe, and those must be under conditions ensuring greater protection of wages.

What the law says

Payment of wages shall be made at or near the place of undertaking, except as otherwise provided by such regulations as the Secretary of Labor and Employment may prescribe under conditions to ensure greater protection of wages.

Labor Code, Article 104 — Place Of Payment. Read the full provision →

Where the wage is to be handed over

The provision is short: Payment of wages shall be made at or near the place of undertaking, except as otherwise provided by such regulations as the Secretary of Labor and Employment may prescribe under conditions to ensure greater protection of wages. The place of undertaking is where the work is actually done — the site, the branch, the vessel, the project — rather than wherever the company keeps its accounts. So the default is that the employer brings the wage to the worker, not that the worker travels to the wage.

The exception runs in one direction only

Departures are possible, but the article states the purpose they must serve: under conditions to ensure greater protection of wages. That is an unusual and useful piece of drafting. It means a variation is contemplated where it makes the wage safer or more certain to reach the worker — not merely where it suits the employer's administration. An arrangement requiring staff to travel further, at their own cost and on their own time, is difficult to describe as one ensuring greater protection of the wage it applies to.

Why the place of payment is a money question

It looks like a matter of convenience and is not. Fare and time spent collecting pay come out of the pay, so a distant pay-out point reduces the wage in substance while leaving the figure on the payslip untouched. The effect falls hardest on the lowest-paid, for whom a return fare is a real proportion of the amount being collected. That is the mischief the rule addresses, which is also why it is expressed as a duty on the employer rather than as something the parties may arrange between them.

Raising it usefully

Put figures on it before you complain. Note where the work is performed, where payment is released, the distance and fare each way, and the time it takes — including whether collection happens on a rest day or eats into working hours. Then check whether the arrangement is written down anywhere, in a memo or in the contract. A concrete account of what collecting the wage costs you each period is far more effective than the general observation that the pay-out point is inconvenient.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.