Garnishment
Garnishment is a legal order requiring an employer to withhold part of an employee’s wages and send it to a creditor, court, or agency.
- LAW
- Consumer Credit Protection Act, Title III
- GENERAL CAP
- 25% of disposable earnings, or less
- PRIORITY
- Child support usually comes first
- WATCH FOR
- Skip withholding and you can owe the missed amount
Orders cover debts such as child supportChild support withholding. Child support withholding is an employer’s deduction of ordered child support from an employee’s pay, under an Income Withholding for Support order.Click to open the term, unpaid taxes, or court judgments. You must begin withholding by the deadline the order sets. Withholding continues until the order is satisfied, released, or withdrawn. The Consumer Credit Protection Act caps most garnishments and bars firing an employee over garnishment for any one debt. An employer that fails to withhold as ordered can owe the missed amount, under state law or federal child-support and tax-levy rules. Late remittance can bring fines.
How much can you withhold?
Disposable earnings are what is left after deductions the law requires, such as taxes. Federal law caps an ordinary creditor garnishment at the lesser of two amounts. One is 25% of weekly disposable earnings; the other is what exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wageMinimum wage. Minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate you may legally pay a covered employee, set by federal, state, and sometimes local law.Click to open the term. Other pay periodsPay period. A pay period is the recurring block of time, such as a week or a month, for which you calculate and pay wages.Click to open the term use their own multiple. Child support and tax levies follow their own, often higher, limits, and several states cap lower.
| WEEKLY DISPOSABLE EARNINGS | MOST A CREDITOR GARNISHMENT CAN TAKE (FEDERAL) |
|---|---|
| $217.50 or less | Nothing |
| More than $217.50, less than $290 | The amount above $217.50 |
| $290 or more | 25% of disposable earnings |
Work it out: one week
Enter one week’s gross pay, the deductions the law requires, and any voluntary ones. The card subtracts only the required deductions, then takes the lesser of 25% and the amount above $217.50 a week.
One week: an ordinary creditor order for the federal maximum
The federal limit on one ordinary creditor garnishment, from one week’s disposable earnings at the $7.25 federal minimum wage (2026). It leaves out other pay periods, more than one order, and child support and tax levies, which follow their own limits. Other cases and state law can change the result.
When an order arrives
- 01
Start withholding by the deadline the order sets, not the next convenient pay run.
- 02
Calculate against disposable earnings on every pay run, since the cap moves with each run’s earnings.
- 03
Remit the withholding to the payee on the schedule the order sets.
- 04
Keep withholding until the order is satisfied, released, or withdrawn.
How does student loan garnishment work?
Student loan garnishment is an administrative wage garnishment: the Department of Education or a guaranty agency orders it for a defaulted federal student loan. You withhold the lesser of the order’s amount or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage. The order can take at most 15% of disposable pay without the employee’s written consent. With a support order or an earlier garnishment in place, it generally also cannot exceed 25% of disposable pay minus what those orders take. You cannot fire or discipline an employee over it.
What happens to garnishments when an employee files Chapter 13 bankruptcy?
A bankruptcy filing triggers an automatic stay that generally stops garnishments for debts from before the filing. Withholding for child support and other domestic support obligations is not stayed. In a Chapter 13 case, once the court confirms the repayment plan, it may order you to pay all or part of the employee’s income to the trustee. The federal garnishment limits do not apply to that Chapter 13 court order, so withhold the amount it sets.
Frequently asked
- Consumer Credit Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. §1673
- 29 CFR Part 870, Restriction on Garnishment
- U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet #30: Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA)
- 42 U.S.C. §666, Requirement of statutorily prescribed procedures to improve effectiveness of child support enforcement
General information, not legal or tax advice. Apply current federal and state rules with qualified guidance.