Apart from Articles L.125-7 (issue of a salary slip at the time of payment of wages) and L.221-1 (monthly payment no later than the last day of the relevant calendar month) of the Labour Code, no precise details are given regarding the way in which the employer must fulfil his obligation to pay employees their wages.
Accordingly, it is necessary to rely on the rules laid down by civil law, which is applicable on a subsidiary basis to employment relations in the absence of specific provisions in labour law.
According to the general civil-law principle concerning the discharge of obligations, “debts are collectible and not portable”.
Thus, in the absence of a specific provision of labour law, it must be acknowledged that wages are “collectible and not portable”. This means that, since the employee is a creditor as regards his wages, it is up to him as a creditor to go and seek satisfaction of his claim from his debtor (the employer). It follows that wages are payable at the address/registered office of his employer.
Consequently, all costs deriving from the payment of the wages should be borne by the employee and the employer may therefore quite legally require his employee to attend at the company’s personnel office to collect his wages.
It is important in any event that the employer arranges for proof of the payment of wages, in so far as it is his responsibility – on the basis of Article 1315 of the Civil Code – to prove that he has discharged his obligation to pay wages.