Garnishment of employees wages

suuzie · December 2003

My questions concerns garnishments. If I have an employee who is just finishing a payment to creditor, there is another creditor waiting to enter a garnishment when this one is paid. Can the old garnishment be continued without letting the new garnishment begin? Or is it clear as mud?

Fairy Bosley,
Human Resource Director
Rugby, ND

marc · December 2003

A garnishment comes in a court order. The creditor cannot just tell you to do it. The courts must order it. Don't deduct without the courts order.

suuzie · December 2003

Both of the garnishments have been court ordered. My question is the first one will complete Jan. 26th, 2004 - so do I let the garnishment (which has been waiting)in at this time or do I allow the first one to reissue and begin another 270 day garnishment?

Maybe I am not explaining myself clearly.

Don D · December 2003

You must do precisely what the court order instructs, up to the limits allowed under your state's laws. If one is paid off (assuming I understand the question), it expires and moves off your books. If there is another one on your desk, it must be 'put on your books' and tracked with a life of its own, separately. Some states allow multiple garnishments to run concurrently as long as a certain percentage level of income is not exceeded.

cebudragonlady · December 2003

If both garnishments have been court-ordered what was stopping you from deducting both at the same time?

Chari

suuzie · December 2003

The amount to be withheld was more than could be allowed based on what he earned.

lnelson · December 2003

Once the old garnishment is paid off if you have other garnishments for that ee you must withhold because they are in effect for 1 yr after you receive the order.
You can run them together as long as they do not exceed the 25% or 50% of disposable earnings, which should be stated on the court order.

Lisa

HRMaiden · December 2003

I agree with Don D. on this one, but you should check with the laws of your state. In Wisconsin, we can only honor one garnishment at a time and we can run it for 13 weeks. Once that 13 weeks has expired, if there is another garnishment waiting in the wings, we honor that for 13 weeks or until it is paid off, whichever happens first. Then if the courts send you another court order on the first garnishment, you can once again start paying on that one.

LindaS · December 2003

I am in agreement with HRMaiden. Once the first garnishment's time allotment runs out you would immediately begin the 2nd garnishment. What will happen (at least here in WI) is that there needs to be another court order allowing the garnishment to continue for another 13 weeks (again, here in WI) and that will take some time. The only exception to this is if the employee agrees, in writing, to extend the current garnishment without requiring the creditor to obtain another garnishment order. This is something that is done between the creditor and the debtor, not something I get involved in. In that event I would continue the original garnishment, as long as the time hasn't expired on the original garnishment in the meantime, until the timeframe agreed on expires or the garnishment is paid in full.

Don D · December 2003

Linda: I'm glad that in our state employers do not respond to or recognize agreements between debtor and creditor like it sounds in your state. We only respond to the specifics of court process. Good to see your perspective though.

Garnishment of employees wages

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