Garnishment - Minnesota

Summary of differences between federal and state regulations

The state of Minnesota has a number of statutes regarding garnishment of wages.

State

Contact

Questions regarding a wage garnishment order should be directed to the court which issued the order.

Regulations

Minn. Stat., §518A.53 Income withholding

Subd. 5. Payor of funds responsibilities. 

(a) An order for or notice of withholding is binding on a payor of funds upon receipt.  Withholding must begin no later than the first pay period that occurs after 14 days following the date of receipt of the order for or notice of withholding.  In the case of a financial institution, preauthorized transfers must occur in accordance with a court-ordered payment schedule.

(b) A payor of funds shall withhold from the income payable to the obligor the amount specified in the order or notice of withholding and amounts specified under subdivisions 6 and 9 and shall remit the amounts withheld to the public authority within seven business days of the date the obligor is paid the remainder of the income.  The payor of funds shall include with the remittance the social security number of the obligor, the case type indicator as provided by the public authority and the date the obligor is paid the remainder of the income.  The obligor is considered to have paid the amount withheld as of the date the obligor received the remainder of the income.  A payor of funds may combine all amounts withheld from one pay period into one payment to each public authority, but shall separately identify each obligor making payment.

(c) A payor of funds shall not discharge, or refuse to hire, or otherwise discipline an employee as a result of wage or salary withholding authorized by this section.  A payor of funds shall be liable to the obligee for any amounts required to be withheld.  A payor of funds that fails to withhold or transfer funds in accordance with this section is also liable to the obligee for interest on the funds at the rate applicable to judgments under section 549.09, computed from the date the funds were required to be withheld or transferred.  A payor of funds is liable for reasonable attorney fees of the obligee or public authority incurred in enforcing the liability under this paragraph.  A payor of funds that has failed to comply with the requirements of this section is subject to contempt sanctions under section 518A.73.  If the payor of funds is an employer or independent contractor and violates this subdivision, a court may award the obligor twice the wages lost as a result of this violation.  If a court finds a payor of funds violated this subdivision, the court shall impose a civil fine of not less  than $500.  The liabilities in this paragraph apply to intentional noncompliance with this section.

(d) If a single employee is subject to multiple withholding orders or multiple notices of withholding for the support of more than one child, the payor of funds shall comply with all of the orders or notices to the extent that the total amount withheld from the obligor's income does not exceed the limits imposed under the Consumer Credit Protection Act, United States Code, title 15, section 1673(b), giving priority to amounts designated in each order or notice as current support as follows:

(d)(1) if the total of the amounts designated in the orders for or notices of withholding as current support exceeds the amount available for income withholding, the payor of funds shall allocate to each order or notice an amount for current support equal to the amount designated in that order or notice as current support, divided by the total of the amounts designated in the orders or notices as current support, multiplied by the amount of the income available for income withholding; and

(d)(2) if the total of the amounts designated in the orders for or notices of withholding as current support does not exceed the amount available for income withholding, the payor of funds shall pay the amounts designated as current support, and shall allocate to each order or notice an amount for past due support, equal to the amount designated in that order or notice as past due support, divided by the total of the amounts designated in the orders or notices as past due support, multiplied by the amount of income remaining available for income withholding after the payment of current support.

(e) When an order for or notice of withholding is in effect and the obligor's employment is terminated, the obligor and the payor of funds shall notify the public authority of the termination within ten days of the termination date.  The termination notice shall include the obligor's home address and the name and address of the obligor's new payor of funds, if known.

(f) A payor of funds may deduct one dollar from the obligor's remaining salary for each payment made pursuant to an order for or notice of withholding under this section to cover the expenses of withholding.

Minn. Stat., §571.921 Definitions.

For purposes of sections 571.921 to 571.926, the following terms have the meanings given them:

(a) "Earnings" means:

(a)(1) compensation paid or payable to an employee for personal service whether denominated as wages, salary, commissions, bonus, or otherwise, and includes periodic payments pursuant to a pension or retirement program;

(a)(2) compensation paid or payable to the producer for the sale of agricultural products; livestock or livestock products; milk or milk products; or fruit or other horticultural products produced when the producer is operating a family farm, a family farm corporation, or an authorized farm corporation, as defined  in section 500.24, subdivision 2; or

(a)(3) maintenance as defined in section 518.003, subdivision 3a;

(b) "Disposable earnings" means that part of the earnings of an individual remaining after the deduction from those earnings of amounts required by law to be withheld.

(c) "Employee" means an individual who performs services subject to the right of the employer to control both what is done and how it is done.

(d) "Employer" means a person for whom an individual performs services as an employee.

Minn. Stat., §571.922 Limitation on wage garnishment.

Unless the judgment is for child support, the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any pay period subjected to garnishment may not exceed the lesser of:

(1) 25 percent of the debtor's disposable earnings; or

(2) the amount by which the debtor's disposable earnings exceed the following product:  40 times the federal minimum hourly wages prescribed by section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, United States Code, title 29, section 206(a)(1), in effect at the time the earnings are payable, times the number of work weeks in the pay period.  When a pay period consists of other than a whole number of work weeks, each day of that pay period in excess of the number of completed work weeks shall be counted as a fraction of a work week equal to the number of excess work days divided by the number of days in the normal work week.

If the judgment is for child support, the garnishment may not exceed:

(1) 50 percent of the judgment debtor's disposable income, if the judgment debtor is supporting a spouse or dependent child and the judgment is 12 weeks old or less (12 weeks to be calculated to the beginning of the work week in which the execution levy is received);

(2) 55 percent of the judgment debtor's disposable income, if the judgment debtor is supporting a spouse or dependent child, and the judgment is over 12 weeks old (12 weeks to be calculated to the beginning of the work week in which the garnishment summons is received);

(3) 60 percent of the judgment debtor's disposable income, if the judgment debtor is not supporting a spouse or dependent child and the judgment is 12 weeks old or less (12 weeks to be calculated to the beginning of the work week in which the execution levy is received); or

(4) 65 percent of the judgment debtor's disposable income, if the judgment debtor is not supporting a spouse or dependent child, and the judgment is over 12 weeks old (12 weeks to be calculated to the beginning of the work week in which the garnishment summons is received).

Wage garnishments on judgments for child support are effective until the judgments are satisfied if the judgment creditor is a county and the employer is notified by the county when the judgment is satisfied.

No court may make, execute, or enforce an order or any process in violation of this section.

Minn. Stat. §571.923 Multiple earnings garnishments.

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter or section 518A.53, the priority of multiple earnings garnishments shall be determined by the order in which the garnishment summonses were served on the employer.  If the employer is served with two or more garnishment summonses at the same time on the same day, the garnishment summons issued pursuant to the first judgment entered has priority.  If two or more garnishment summonses are served on the same day and are based on judgments entered on the same day or if there are two or more garnishment summonses based on prejudgment garnishment pursuant to section 571.93, then the employer shall select the priority of the earnings garnishments.  However, in all cases except wage garnishments on judgments for child support if the judgment creditor is a county and the employer is notified by the county when the judgment is satisfied, garnishments shall be effective no longer than 70 days from the date of the service of the garnishment summons.

Minn. Stat. §571.927 Penalty for retaliation for garnishment.

An employer shall not discharge or otherwise discipline an employee as a result of an earnings garnishment authorized by this chapter.

Federal

Contact

US Department of Labor

www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/garnishments

Regulations

Federal law limits the amount of wages that can be garnished, in most cases, to 25 percent of weekly earnings after taxes. If more that one garnishment order exists against an individual, the total amount cannot exceed the maximum set by law. Some government obligations, such as back taxes and child support, always have precedence.

29 CFR Part 870 (15 USC §1671)