What Every Business Owner Should Know About Wage Garnishment (And How We Can Help!)
Wage garnishment—it’s never a pleasant subject. When business owners are asked by the courts to garnish an employee’s wages, they must comply; but compliance can cause workplace stress and conflict with the affected employee. Most business owners would rather not think about such predicaments, let alone participate in them. But the reality is clear: the stress and distraction of wage garnishment cases happen to most business owners, and you are better off knowing what to expect ahead of time.
What is Wage Garnishment?
Wage garnishment takes place when a court issues an order requiring an employer to withhold money from an employee’s paycheck to pay off the employee’s debts. The court will specify the exact amount to withhold, and the person or institution to whom the employer should send it. The garnishment will continue until the employee’s debt is paid off.
The amount of wages that the court withholds from an employee depends on several factors. For starters, the withheld wages can only come from disposable income. Calculating what constitutes as disposable income and whether the employee’s wages meet an appropriate garnishment level requires a complex assessment. And if more than one wage garnishment is ordered for the same employee, the assessment becomes even more complicated.
Business owners have only ten days from the date they receive the garnishment paperwork to complete the required assessments and calculations. Taking longer than ten days to fill out the necessary paperwork and begin withholdings can put the business in breach of the court order.
How LCAF Payroll Can Help
All of these requirements can be a lot to for a business owner to handle on their own. But not to worry, because, at LCAF Payroll, we take care of the headaches for you! First, we assess and fill out the court-produced paperwork within the required ten-day period. We then send the appropriate documents to you, the employer, as well as to the affected employee. Next, we conduct the necessary calculations to ensure that the correct amount is deducted from the employee’s disposable pay. Because many factors come into play with these calculations, including wage fluctuations, we recalculate with each paycheck to ensure accuracy. Finally, we create an agency check on your company’s behalf, give you a copy, and have it ready to send out on time to the correct agency.
Here at LCAF Payroll, we take the burden of a stressful court order that demands a fast turnaround off your shoulders! For more information or questions concerning wage garnishments, contact us today! We look forward to helping you.
