Unusual Order of Wage Withholding - Garnishment

napel

I received an order of wage withholding for one of our employees. First let me say that this is not unusual for our employees...student loans, bankruptcies, etc. are normal for the payroll dept. But the one that came today is from a new vendor, "Great Lakes" and appears to be for a student loan. This company is not listed as one of the approved collection agencies for the federal gov't student loan program. How do I know if I should set this up and send in the payments? Can anyone send out a wage garnishment order? How can I check to see if this should be honored?

ACU Frank

So it wasn't an order from the court?

Still Need Coffee

Do you outsource your payroll or do you process in-house? We outsource, so when I have a question like this I send it to our payroll specialist to sort out.

You can also look to see if there's a procedure on the form for protesting the withholding. Many of those non-government claims will have a notice of protest clause that allows the employee to protest the claim, taking it out of your hands.

In general, we don't honor any garnishments or liens other than court-ordered withholding or state/federal government notices (tax liens, etc).

napel

We do our payroll "in-house." I set up all of the garnishments. Normally we only get court-ordered or government approved paperwork. But this one was tricky. It used the same format as a government administrative wage garnishment. I don't feel good about it. There is nothing about protesting it that I can find. I thought it was odd that it came with "SECOND NOTICE" on the top, and this is the first I have seen it.

joannie

Napel,

For what it's worth, Great Lakes purchases student loans from other financial institutions.

davids

Absent a court order, or the direction of the employee, I would not direct a portion of the employee's wages to anyone but the employee. I am pretty sure we would be in violation of my state's wage payment statutes if we did. You might ask the employee if he/she knows about it.

ACU Frank

If it's not from the court, it doesn't exist. That goes for modifications or cancellations as well.

napel

I like your answer. Thanks for all of the comments. This is very helpful.