Revised October 2020 or tags, etc. --> This fact sheet provides general information concerning the CCPA’s limits on the amount that employers may withhold from a person’s earnings in response to a garnishment order, and the CCPA’s protection from termination because of garnishment for any single debt.
A wage garnishment is any legal or equitable procedure through which some portion of a person’s earnings is required to be withheld for the payment of a debt. Most garnishments are made by court order. Other types of legal or equitable procedures for garnishment include IRS or state tax collection agency levies for unpaid taxes and federal agency administrative garnishments for non-tax debts owed to the federal government. Wage garnishments do not include voluntary wage assignments – that is, situations in which employees voluntarily agree that their employers may turn over some specified amount of their earnings to a creditor or creditors.
Title III of the CCPA(Title III) limits the amount of an individual’s earnings that may be garnished and protects an employee from being fired if pay is garnished for only one debt. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division administers Title III, which applies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories and possessions. Title III protects everyone who receives personal earnings. The Wage and Hour Division has authority with regard to questions relating to the amount garnished or termination. Other questions relating to garnishment should be directed to the court or agency initiating the garnishment action. For example, questions regarding the priority given to certain garnishments over others are not matters covered by Title III and may be referred to the court or agency initiating the action. The CCPA contains no provisions controlling the priorities of garnishments, which are determined by state or other federal laws. However, in no event may the amount of any individual’s disposable earnings that may be garnished exceed the percentages specified in the CCPA.
In determining whether certain lump-sum payments are earnings under the CCPA, the central inquiry is whether the employer paid the amount in question for the employee’s services.If the lump-sum payment is made in exchange for personal services rendered, then like payments received periodically, it will be subject to the CCPA’s garnishment limitations. Conversely, lump-sum payments that are unrelated to personal services rendered are not earnings under the CCPA.
For employees who receive tips, the cash wages paid directly by the employer and the amount of any tip credit claimed by the employer under federal or state law are earnings for the purposes of the wage garnishment law. Tips received in excess of the tip credit amount or in excess of the wages paid directly by the employer (if no tip credit is claimed or allowed) are not earnings for purposes of the CCPA.
The amount of pay subject to garnishment is based on an employee’s “disposable earnings,” which is the amount of earnings left after legally required deductions are made. Examples of such deductions include federal, state, and local taxes, and the employee’s share of Social Security, Medicare and State Unemployment Insurance tax. It also includes withholdings for employee retirement systems required by law.
Deductions not required by law – such as those for voluntary wage assignments, union dues, health and life insurance, contributions to charitable causes, purchases of savings bonds, retirement plan contributions (except those required by law) and payments to employers for payroll advances or purchases of merchandise – usually may not be subtracted from gross earnings when calculating disposable earnings under the CCPA.
Title III sets the maximum amount that may be garnished in any workweek or pay period, regardless of the number of garnishment orders received by the employer. For ordinary garnishments (i.e., those not for support, bankruptcy, or any state or federal tax), the weekly amount may not exceed the lesser of two figures: 25% of the employee’s disposable earnings, or the amount by which an employee’s disposable earnings are greater than 30 times the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25 an hour).
Therefore, if the pay period is weekly and disposable earnings are $217.50 ($7.25 × 30) or less, there can be no garnishment. If disposable earnings are more than $217.50 but less than $290 ($7.25 × 40), the amount above $217.50 can be garnished. If disposable earnings are $290 or more, a maximum of 25% can be garnished. When pay periods cover more than one week, multiples of the weekly restrictions must be used to calculate the maximum amounts that may be garnished. The table and examples at the end of this fact sheet illustrate these amounts.