Wage Garnishment

[snbdye]

Hi. I would like to know if anyone is familiar with wage garnishment laws in Oregon. In the past, my husband has had his wages garnished, using a formula of 75% of his take-home pay was exempt. The problem is this: He has a child support order that currently takes approx. 25% of his take home (based on an 80 hour payperiod). A garnishment went into effect from a credit company a month or so ago. Simultaneously, his hours at work have been irregular, sometimes 40 a week, sometimes only 30 - child support never goes down, it is a fixed rate. His employer is garnishing 25% of his take-home BEFORE taking out his child support....so in effect, last week he went to pick up his check and 75% of his take home had been taken - the reason being that instead of it being an 80 hour payperiod, he only had 40 hours..so basically his child support was 50% of his take home, then 25% went to the collection agency. Does this make sense to anyone? I thought only 25% total was garnishable...that the child support came first, then whatever was over of the 25% would be given to the credit company....Can anyone shed light on this? We're facing eviction because this has happened for 2 payperiods in a row now and will probably continue. How can this be legal?

 

[JenniferH]

I believe that Federal Law mandates that child support must be garnished first. Also only one garnishement at a time can only come from a persons check, until child support is paid then can they garnish for the other. Basically one at a time until fully paid or garn. is w/drawn. Check your state statutes, but I am pretty sure this comes under Federal laws.

Jennifer Hathaway
Judgment Recovery Specialist
Delaware

 

[snbdye]

Well the employer has now finally admitted that what they were doing was wrong and broke federal law. They say "sorry, wont happen again". But shouldnt they be liable to refund the money back to us? They're saying it's not their problem, we're saying it is their problem since they caused it to happen in the first place. We have no problems making small payments to pay off his debts, we're not trying to get out of doing that - but we feel that legally they broke the law, they should have to reimburse us and either eat the cost for their mistakes or try to get it back from the creditor themselves. Anyone know the law on this aspect?

 

[JenniferH]

I believe you have grounds to sue in small claims court. I would also check w/ your local prosecutor and see if they won't assist you in any repayment your husband may have coming to him. On the very least, the pros. should be able to see if the company could be criminally charged.

It could be very effective if you could have the pros. office send a letter to the employer for repayments. (could scare them into reimbursing)

If in doubt, check w/ a lawyer. You will find most lawyers have a hour consult for free. Maybe you will be lucky and find one here to answer your question.

Hope this helps.

Jennifer Hathaway
Judgment Recovery Specialist
Delaware
This is NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

 

[buddy2bear]

And, if you cause your husband's employer any more trouble and money, he could find himself without a job. Even though it is illegal to fire someone for 1 garnishment on his paycheck, it is not illegal for more than one. I would suggest that you keep a low profile on this and not cause any more trouble with the employer. They are not "forgiving" when it comes to their money! Besides, they didn't keep what they garnished, they gave it to the creditors, so they don't have your husband's money to reimburse and they won't be happy campers to give you their money to payback a mistake.