Child Support

MOMANUFACTURER

I have only withheld child support when it has een court ordered. I have a new employee that says she wants her child support withheld from her check and sent to the state. She doesn't have a court order to pay. Am I required to do this? If so do I just have her fill out a deduction form authorizing us to withhold the amount? My fear is her coming back and saying that she knew nothing of it. Also, I don't want to set a policy here where I become the "bank" for making all employees support payments.
Thanks for your advice.
Susan

mwild31

Hi - I've only ever done court orders - not voluntary deductions. In my mind, this is a voluntary deduction & I wouldn't do it. The employee may be able to work it out with her bank & the state for some type of electronic fund transfer - I would redirect her to her bank.

MOMANUFACTURER

Thanks for your support. You enforced what I had already perceived. I guess I just needed someone to say yes you're right.
Thanks again.

flaroyale

I agree with MWild not to do the deduction without a court order for garnishment. I would wonder how the state would know what to do with the money when you sent it to them if it was not a state ordered garnishment with a case number and name and address of who the money was for?

Betty I_O

We also would withhold child support only with a court order. Many times over the years we also have had employees request additional withholdings, etc. for a variety of things for which there was no legal/court-ordered backup, and we have always refused such requests.

Human Resources Manager

I agree, I would (and do) only withhold court ordered payments. There is no reason to take on this headache just because the employee doesn't want to be responsible for it. Just think, would you withhold and send payment for an employee's credit card payment?

marc

Just to give an alternative -

Our software allows us to split deposits. If she can come up with a place she wants to direct the deposit (Bank routing number and account name and number),why not do it? Make sure you have her authorization and that she is responsible for any follow-up required.

Our agency encourages parents to take responsibility for their children and would do a bit of extra work to pull that off, but we would make sure our backsides were protected in the process.

lnelson

Just putting another spin on this.
Being new to your company the ee may want to keep up on her garnishment for child support by asking you to continue it until you physically get the documents. Making sure not to fall behind in payments sounds commendable. I would ask the ee for documentation of the garnishment before proceeding if you desire too. Usually once the ee notifies the State where they are working it takes a couple of weeks to get the court orders from them. At least in my experience.

MOMANUFACTURER

I asked the ee to furnish me with a copy of the court order so that I could try and resolve this. I was told that there is no court order. She gave me an address and a case number, but how do I know that the amount is correct?

MOMANUFACTURER

We also offer our ee 2 direct deposits. She is already using both of these. Her comment was that she wanted us to be responsible so that if she went back to court and they tried to say that she hadn't paid that she could show her check stub and prove that it had been withheld.
Sounds to me like she has had problems in the past and wants someone to blame.

E Wart

First, have you notifed CSE of the hire? If so and this person has CS through the state, you will soon be notified.
Second, if they want money sent to the state, they should contact the state to get this arranged. Let the state worry about whether or not a legal document is needed.
Third, I agree that I wouldn't start sending money to the state without the state knowing where the money goes. Also, they normally have a case number you need to put on the check.
Instead of telling the employee no, talk with them and explain that you have to have the notice from the state inorder to send the money. You will be glad to cooperate if they will contact the state and have them notify you with the proper information. If they were having this done previously, it should be a breeze. And if they were doing this previously, you might want to mention that they may want to continue sending money each week/month to the state with the proper information on the check (and keeping a copy) until the state can get it set up with you. THis way they won't fall behind.
The only time I have ever done child support without a notice/order is on a rehired employee that we had been served previoulsy. I called and talked with the court and found out that yes it was still in affect, and no nothing had changed, and that it would cost the employee over $100 to have it reserved on us. Since the court said everything was ok, I went ahead and continued this from the prior order. Otherwise, I would never do it.
Good luck and be kind to an employee who just wants to be a good parent.
E Wart

TN HR

I don't necessarily see any major issue with complying with the ee's request. Here's my rationale: If the ee has a case # from the state, then I am 99% certain that it is in fact court ordered, however, there may not be an actual garnishment order in place (in other words, the court has allowed this individual to be responsible and send payments to the state for proper disbursement). The ee, is trying to take things one step further in order to avoid potential problems. If one of my employees came to me with this proposal I would certainly accomodate them.

With a signed voluntary payroll deduction form on file you are certainly "covered". If it absolutely would make you feel better, have the ee contact the domestic relations or equivalent agency in your state and ask them them to enter a garnishment order (trust me, they will gladly comply).

Gene

mwild31

Okay - to put a spin on the logic here - because I see this as a voluntary deduction - by accomodating the employee on this request - what's to stop other requests? Does the employee ask if they can have their mortgage/rent automatically deducted - this way they have proof? Does the employee ask if they can have their school loan automatically deducted - again so they have proof. I don't think this is too much of a stretch because it's not court ordered, hence, no matter what the issue - it is a voluntary deduction - do you really want to be in a position of determining which deduction you'll accomodate and which one you won't? And, because this precedence is set - what's to stop other employees from making the same requests? At what point would this accomodation become an administrative nightmare? Again, without a court order, I wouldn't do it. It's a personal matter that should be worked through the employee's bank and the state - there's proof there of the transaction, so the issue of proof is mute.

MOMANUFACTURER

Just to send an update. I spoke with the ee this morning and told them that I couldn't do the deduction. (I like some of you wondered where I would have to stop electric payments, loan payments, etc.)The ee understood and said that they just wanted to have proof. I told them that their cancelled check should be proof enough.
Thanks for the advice.
Susan