Wage Garnishment Notices

Hello. I received a wage garnishment notice from two different Marshals. Each told me I can pay 10% of my weekly gross income on a weekly basis or my employer will be notified of the wage garnishment. It was my understanding that the max I can be garnished was 10%. However, since I received a notice from two different Marshalls, I will have to pay a total of 20% if I want to avoid my employer from receiving the garnishment notices. Is this legal? If I do nothing and my employer receives both notices, will my employer be legally allowed to garnish me the 20% or will they only garnish me 10% period. I greatly appreciate your advise with this desperate matter.

Nyc322 said:

Hello. I received a wage garnishment notice from two different Marshals. Each told me I can pay 10% of my weekly gross income on a weekly basis or my employer will be notified of the wage garnishment. It was my understanding that the max I can be garnished was 10%. However, since I received a notice from two different Marshalls, I will have to pay a total of 20% if I want to avoid my employer from receiving the garnishment notices. Is this legal? If I do nothing and my employer receives both notices, will my employer be legally allowed to garnish me the 20% or will they only garnish me 10% period. I greatly appreciate your advise with this desperate matter.

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Filing for bankruptcy
If you decide to file for bankruptcy, all garnishments and any other attempt to collect will stop immediately. Those who file for bankruptcy are in a tough financial position and this could probably be your best resort.

Who Can Garnish My Wages In New York?
Creditors, debt collectors, and debt buyers who get a valid judgment against you can attempt to collect the debt by garnishing your wages. They can't seek an income execution before they have a judgment. Income executions start with a debt collection lawsuit. If you fail to pay your credit card debt or a medical bill, you can be sued by the creditor. You will be served with a summons and complaint. Answering the summons and complaint will stop a default judgment from being entered against you. A judgment is a court order for a certain amount of money.

After a court judgment is entered, the creditor can enforce it. What that means is the creditor can go after your assets to pay off the judgment. There are two main debt collection tools they use to do this: wage garnishment and bank account garnishment. Wage garnishment is different from bank account garnishment. A wage garnishment requires your employer to withhold a certain amount from your paycheck to pay the creditor. A bank account garnishment allows a creditor to remove funds directly from your bank account.

In special circumstances, a wage garnishment can happen without first getting a money judgment. If you owe income tax debt, government student loans, or court-ordered child support, the government agency or creditor can garnish your wages without a court order. But for most types of debt, a creditor needs a judgment before it can garnish your wages. This article focuses on wage garnishment for private debts, such as credit card debts or medical bills, where a judgment is required.

If you don't pay a money judgment, the judgment creditor can start the wage garnishment process. The creditor will send a notice of income execution to an enforcement officer. In the five boroughs of New York, the enforcement office is the New York City Marshal. In other parts of the state, the enforcement officer is the county's sheriff. New York City has a sheriff, but the sheriff is usually involved in debts that are more than $25,000.

The New York City Marshal or county sheriff will then serve you with notice of the income execution. This notice will advise you of the judgment and give you 20 days to call the marshal or sheriff to set up a voluntary payment plan. Your employer is not notified at this time.

If you don't contact the marshal or sheriff after 20 days, the marshal or sheriff will serve your employer with the income execution. You can send a written objection to the wage garnishment if you have grounds to object. Grounds to object might be: You satisfied the debt, you are in bankruptcy, or you are in a payment plan with the creditor.

Your employer will be the one to withhold a certain portion of your earnings to satisfy the debt. Your employer will deduct the amount that is to be garnished before your earnings enter your bank account. After your employer starts to hold back a certain portion of your wages, the marshal or sheriff will periodically send you an accounting statement that tells you how much of the debt has been paid by garnishment and how much remains to be paid.

https://upsolve.org/ny/wage-garnishment/


Can an employer fire you for a garnishment?
Because it can be quite cumbersome for employers to process garnishment some of them are tempted to go for the easier route which is to terminate employees. But since federal law prohibits taking unfavorable employment action for one garnishment, firing an employee is considered unlawful in the State of New York. Multiple garnishments or receiving a second garnishment on the other hand may result in termination if decided by the employer.

Computation of NYS Wage Garnishment
By law, wage deductions can't exceed ten percent (10%) of gross income or twenty-five percent (25%) of disposable income. In New York, these percentages only apply provided that your income is above thirty percent (30%) of the minimum wage. Otherwise, it can't be garnished at all.

Disposable income is the amount of money you make after deductions including federal income tax, social security, state income tax, and state disability.

Gross income is how much you've earned before the deductions mentioned earlier are made.

Check out the link here to know the calculation of garnishment or income execution https://www.tax.ny.gov/enforcement/collections/ie_calc.htm

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NYS Wage Garnishment: Getting it Released and How They Work | Tax Resolution Professionals, A Nationwide Tax Law Firm, (888) 515-4829
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Nyc322 said:

I received a wage garnishment notice from two different Marshals.

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Do you have two different judgments for which wage garnishment can be ordered?

"In New York, a creditor can garnish the lesser of 10% of your gross wages or 25% of your disposable income. Disposable income is the amount you make after your employer makes legally required deductions from your paycheck. These include federal, state, and local taxes, Social Security, and unemployment insurance"

Wage Garnishment in New York - Upsolve

Let's use $1000 a week as an example.

10% of the gross is $100.

Let's say your net take home after the listed deductions is $750. 25% of $750 is $187.50.

The lesser of the two amounts is $100 so the maximum amount that can be garnished is $100 per week.

Nyc322 said:

However, since I received a notice from two different Marshalls, I will have to pay a total of 20% if I want to avoid my employer from receiving the garnishment notices. Is this legal?

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Yes, it's legal. The creditor is offering you a payment plan in lieu of wage garnishment. That you were delivered the notices by marshals doesn't mean that there is a court order yet.

Before I go further, answer my question at the top.

Thank you for the replies.

I do have judgments (2011) for both notices and they related to significant private student loan debt that I accumulated between 2003-2007. To be more specific, I received 3 notices from one Marshall and one from a different Marshall. Ive reached out to the attorneys for the judgment creditor and they informed me these are the only executed notices but I still have other judgments in their system. I've spoken to lawyers regarding this debt and some inform me bankruptcy is not an option for private student loans and other have proposed a Chapter 13 repayment plan. I signed a retainer with student debt settlement lawyer but he informed me it can take 3-6 months. He's been hard to reach ever since and thus I am here.

My biggest concern now is keeping my employer from receiving the wage garnishment notices. I want to pay this debt. I have no choice. I've received notices from two different Marshalls and at this rate their may soon be others. Paying each 10% to avoid my employer from receiving the wage garnishment notice can hypothetically leave me with very little to nothing to live on. What are my options while I wait for a possible settlement? Sorry for the long thread but I'm in a real mess here.

Only one wage garnishment can be done at a time so the first one to garnish your wages through the courts, the rest will have to wait until that debt is paid and then it's a race to see who garnishes first.

Here's the catch. If you settle with one to pay 10% per week, that's not a wage garnishment. The next one in line can file the wage garnishment through the court and you'll legally be paying 20% of your weekly pay.

You may have made a big mistake paying a debt settlement lawyer to settle your debts when you could have used that money to send to the creditors. There's no guarantee that the creditors will ever settle for a lesser amount unless it's in a lump sum cash payment. If they have to collect payment they might as well wait to collect the entire amount over time.

Nyc322 said:

I want to pay this debt. I have no choice.

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No you don't have a choice any more. How about last month? Did you have a choice? 6 months ago? A year ago? Have you sent any money at all to your creditors since the judgments? Before the judgments? I'm guessing no. Now that your neck is in a noose, you want options.

There's only one option and you had it all along. Send money. Even regular small amounts every week may have kept the creditors at bay.

adjusterjack said:

There's only one option and you had it all along. Send money. Even regular small amounts every week may have kept the creditors at bay.

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You're absolutely right. Apart from taking out those loans as a kid, this has been the biggest mistake I've ever made.

My lawyer informed me they are working on motions to vacate filed on my behalf and that I should not contact my creditor. Taking this route I can only foresee my employer receiving all notices and eventually letting me go. I rather pay the Marshals and keep my job at this point.

Nyc322 said:

I can only foresee my employer receiving all notices and eventually letting me go.

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Letting you go because of wage garnishment is illegal in NY. See:

Has Your Employer Fired You because of a Wage Garnishment/Income Execution? Learn Your Rights Under New York Law. (thelangelfirm.com)

You would have grounds for a lawsuit against your employer if that happened.