Wage Garnishment: True or Another Intimidation Technique by Raging Creditors?Wage garnishment (wage deduction) is a thing that most delinquent debtors fear of really bad… This article will show you how dangerous this popular threat can be in reality – and give a brief outline of the process the creditor will have to go through to make you pay the debt off out of your wages if the judgment announced at your debt lawsuit fails to make you pay.
The procedure of preparation for the wage garnishment hearing The first thing you should know about to be able to fight off the harasses of creditors is that a wage garnishment procedure cannot be started before the corresponding judgment is announced. Only after that the creditor will be able to file a special document called Wage Deduction Affidavit with the court’s clerk. The creditor expresses his/her belief that your employer pays you a certain amount of wages in this Wage Deduction Affidavit – and certifies that he/she has already sent you a wage garnishment notice before signing this affidavit. The Wage Deduction Affidavit should also state the address that the wage garnishment notice was mailed to (the last known address of the debtor).
Meanwhile, the creditor also sends a letter containing a number of questions in writing to your employer in attempt to figure out the amount of wages he/she pays you in a given period of time and the amount of non-exempt wages that may be garnished from you. The answer that your employer gives must be filed with the court and sent both to you and your creditor.
Your employer will also be issued a Summons as soon as the creditor submits the affidavit and the list of questions he wants to ask to the court clerk. The Summons states the amount of time that your employer will have to answer the creditor’s questions and the date when the wage garnishment procedure will be held.
In most cases, the wage garnishment court gets scheduled on the date 12 weeks after the issuing of the Summons. During that time, the employer will have to withhold a part of your non-exempt wages stated in the judgment. On the date of the court the judge will decide whether your employer should pass the withheld part of your wages back to you or turn it over to your creditor. This can only be done if the Wage Deduction Affidavit certifies that a copy of a wage garnishment notice was sent to the debtor and the answers given by the debtor’s employer are full enough to help the judge determine the amount of the debtor’s non-exempt wages.
The wage garnishment notice that the creditor mails you should contain the following information:
- the notice of the beginning of a wage garnishment lawsuit against you by your creditor;
- the exact date and time when this matter will be held in court;
- mathematic formula that determines the amount of non-exempt wages that your creditor wants to get from you;
- the notification of the fact that the amount of deduced wages is limited by federal and state laws;
- the notification stating that you have all legal rights to dispute wage garnishment due to the fact that your wages are exempt and the directions describing the way to obtain this hearing.
The amount of money that can possibly be taken from your wages The minimum amount that you will be able to take home after your employer receives the Summons and starts withholding the money from you equals to 45 times the state minimum wage ($7.50/hour as of July 1, 2007). This means that you will be receiving at least 45 x $7.50 = $337.50 each week (not including the tax and Social Security deductions). If your weekly wages are equal to or less than this amount, no wage deduction will be made at all. The maximum amount that your employer will be able to take from you may be either equal to 15% of your gross wages per week, or the amount of your weekly take-home pay minus $337.50. Plus, the employer himself/herself might deduct a small amount of money from your wage as a fee for their activity in response to the wage garnishment lawsuit.
The actions you are recommended to take if you are subject to wage garnishment The first thing you are recommended to do if your employer is deducing wages from you is making sure that the amount if garnished wages doesn’t exceed the maximum allowed amount. If it does, remind your employer that he/she doesn’t have the right to take more than specified by the law. As soon as you receive a copy of the document listing your employer’s answers to your creditor’s interrogations, check out how much non-exempt funds your creditor says he/she has withheld from your wage. If this amount seems to be too much, don’t hesitate to request the court to make your employer correct the sum that he/she withholds from you (detailed instructions on how to do it are stated in the wage garnishment notice that you receive).
The possibility of being fired or suspended due to your debt-related problems In no case a wage garnishment processing started against an employee can be concerned a reason sufficient enough for the employer to fire or suspend him/her. However, this rule works only with the employees dealing with a single wage garnishment request. In case an employer has to deal with more than one wage garnishment request concerning one and the same employee, this protection is not available any longer.
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