Do your supervisors understand the issues surrounding wage garnishment and family support? Do they know the applicable laws in this area? Below is some information to convey to your supervisors.
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Get Your Report Now!Wage garnishment and family support withholding are complicated issues. Both federal and state laws could apply, and both federal and state agencies might be involved. Here are the key laws you should know about:
- Title III of the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act governs most garnishments, except for tax levies. It protects employees by limiting the amount of money that can be withheld from weekly wages.
- Child and spousal support payments are governed by Title IV-D of the federal Social Security Act, also called the Child Support Enforcement Act. This is a federal law, but it is enforced by the states.
- The Child Support Enforcement Act requires each state to have laws that ensure collection of child or spousal support orders issued from courts throughout the United States. This prevents a spouse from avoiding family support payments simply by moving to another state.
- The Debt Collection Improvement Act permits federal agencies, such as the IRS, to garnish wages for back taxes or other unpaid debts owed the federal government. No court order is required under this law. But garnishment can proceed only if the employee is delinquent in payments for more than 180 days, and the government has given the employee adequate warning and the opportunity to dispute the debt.
- The federal Higher Education Act allows the Department of Education to garnish an employee's wages to repay a federally guaranteed student loan.
- State laws also govern garnishment and family support issues. A state law may rule over a federal law or vice versa, depending on the circumstances. Generally, the law that is most favorable to the employee, or the law that best protects the employee's rights, rules.
The above information comes from BLR's presentation "Wage Garnishment and Family Support Withholding: What Supervisors Need to Know." For more information on all the training courses BLR has to offer, go to our Employee and Manager Training page.