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State Agencies Bulletin No. 1676

Subject
New General Deduction Rules for Writs of Garnishments and New York State Tax Levies Affecting Employee Garnishment Deductions
Date Issued
October 18, 2018

This bulletin has been superseded by Payroll Bulletins 1799

Purpose

To inform agencies of changes in certain garnishment deduction amounts, or in some instances, garnishments no longer being taken for employees due to new general deduction rules for calculating new and existing writs of garnishments (creditor garnishments) and New York State tax levies

Affected Employees

Employees who currently have a writ of garnishment or New York State tax levy in place and have a job location in Long Island/Westchester or New York City

Background

The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (Title III) places limits to creditor garnishments and New York State Tax Levies on the amount that can be garnished. The CPPA states that the maximum amount of an employee’s “disposable earnings” that can be garnished to repay a debt is the lesser of 25% of the employee’s disposable earnings for the week or the amount by which the employee’s disposable earnings for the week exceeds 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect.

Currently, disposable earnings are calculated on the single minimum wage of $10.40/hr. Due to the new 2018 regional minimum wage increases for Long Island/Westchester ($11.00/hr) and New York City ($13.00/hr), the disposable earnings calculation will be calculated according to the employee’s job location and the minimum wage for that location.

Current garnishment orders in effect for affected employees may be subject to a reduction in the garnishment amount, or in some instances, the garnishment may no longer be taken. If an employee’s garnishment is no longer taken, it does not necessarily mean the employee’s garnishment has been satisfied.

Effective Date(s)

Institution paychecks dated 10/25/2018

Administration paychecks dated 10/31/2018

OSC Actions

OSC will update the General Deduction Rules for the new minimum wages currently in effect.

OSC will send a letter to affected employees’ mailing address in PayServ notifying them of this change.

Agency Actions

Agency Payroll Officers should review the listing sent by OSC & notify affected employees.

Questions

Questions regarding this bulletin may be sent to the Payroll Deduction Mailbox.