United States: An Employer’s Responsibility To Comply With Wage Garnishments In Utah

If a judgment is entered against one of your employees, you may find a sheriff's constable on your doorstep with legal paperwork to serve you, as the employer, for a wage garnishment. Utah law requires that legal paperwork, like a garnishment, must be served on an officer, managing or general agent, or person in charge of an office or place of business. Utah R. Civ. P.4 Most garnishments served on employers are continuing garnishments, which is a procedure for withholding the earnings of a employee for successive pay periods (not to exceed 120 days) for payment of a judgment debt.

Answering Interrogatories. If you are served with a continuing wage garnishment, you should receive detailed instructions with the legal paperwork, which are set by state statute. The garnishment package will contain interrogatories, which are written questions to which notarized answers must be filed with the court. The questions will relate to the dates of the employees paydays, the amount of wages being earned by the employee, the amount of withholdings, etc. Based on a formula set by law, which will be provided to you with the garnishment package, up to twenty-five percent (25%) of the employees disposable earnings are subject to one continuing wage garnishment.

The Affidavit And Writ. In the garnishment context, the employer is generally referred to as the garnishee. The employer is required to answer in detail the interrogatories within five (5) business days, and to serve a copy of such answers to the court and to the judgment creditor, or its attorney. For each subsequent pay period thereafter, for a period of 120 days, you are required to fill out an affidavit of garnishee as to continuing garnishment and filed the same with the clerk of the court and to mail a copy of the judgment creditor or its attorney. You are further required to deliver or mail a copy of the Writ of Garnishment and your answers to the Interrogatories, Notice of Garnishment and Exemption, and two (2) copies of the request for Hearing to your employee at the last known address of the employee shown on your records at the time of the service of the Writ of Garnishment, assuming, of course, that you are holding wages payable to such employee.

The affidavit will require you to answer the following questions:

1. Whether you are indebted to your employer for earnings, specifying the beginning and ending dates of the applicable pay period, and total earnings for one pay period;
2. Whether you are retaining or deducting any amount in satisfaction of a claim that you have against a party to the lawsuit and a designation and to against whom such claim relates, and the amount retained or deducted;
3. The computation of the amount of your employees accrued disposable earnings attached by the Writ for the applicable pay period;
4. A statement that you have served your employer with a copy of the Writ of Garnishment and Notice of Garnishment and exemptions that were served with the garnishment package.

Delivering The Funds. You have the option to deliver to the officer serving the Writ of Garnishment the earnings or income to be held at the next pay day. This option is rarely followed by employers for many reasons, not the least of which it takes some time to compute the amount to be withheld. Alternatively, you may send the money to the judgment creditor, its attorney, or hold the money until further order from the court. Most employers elect to hold the money until they receive a garnishee order from the court. The portion of your employees earnings or income to be held at each subsequent pay day as shown by the formula in the affidavit, may be sent to the court, to the judgment creditor, or its attorney. Notwithstanding the garnishment, you should continue to pay your employee the portion of his/her earnings which are not subject to the garnishment in the same matter in which you would normally pay wages.

Penalties For Not Complying. If you fail to follow the procedure outlined above, the court may order you to appear and to show cause why you should not be held in contempt of court and why the court should not order you to pay costs and attorneys fees incurred by the other parties to the lawsuit as a result of your failure to comply with Utah law. Unless you are able to show substantial justification for your failure to comply with the instructions delivered with the garnishment, the court will order you to pay reasonable expenses, including attorneys fees, incurred as a result of your failure to follow the instructions. If you comply with the procedure outlined above, you will be released from all demands by the parties to the original lawsuit.

Practice Tip: You should calendar the date on which the Writ of Garnishment was served and count ahead 120 days and note the date the Garnishment will expire. Should you receive a second Writ of Continuing Garnishment before the first one has expired, Utah law requires you to hold the second garnishment and to begin it when the first garnishment has expired. In other words, only one Writ of Garnishment shall be in effect and satisfied at a time.

Many state and federal employment laws apply only to companies with more than a specified number of employees. This chart indicates the minimum number of employees necessary for various federal and state laws to apply:

• Federal Laws:
• EPPA (Employee Polygraph Protection Act)
• FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act-Minimum Wage and Overtime)
• IRCA (Immigration)
• Utah Laws:
• Drug & Alcohol Testing Statute
• Employment of Minors Statute
• Payment of Wages Statute
• Utah Indoor Clean Air Act
• Utah Minimum Wage Age
• Utah Labor Code:
• Blacklisting
• Employer Reference Immunity
• Medical Fees for Examinaton
• Right to Work Law
• Transportation of Workers
• Employment Inventions Act
• Garnishment of Wages

Federal Laws:

• ADA (American with Disabilities Act)
• Title VII (Prohibits discrimination on basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin)

Utah Laws:

• UADA (Anti-Discrimination Act - prohibits discrimination of protected classes)

Federal:

• ADEA (Age Discrimination for employees over 40)

Federal:

• FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act - allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain circumstances)

Federal:

• WARN (Mass Layoff Notification)