SB 501, as amended, Wieckowski. Wage garnishment restrictions.
The Wage Garnishment Law prescribes the procedure for withholding an employee’s earnings for purposes of paying a debt. The law requires that a levy of execution upon the earnings of an employee be made by service of an earnings withholding order upon the employer. An earnings withholding order is issued by a levying officer upon receiving an application submitted by a judgment creditor, as specified. Existing law prohibits the amount of an individual judgment debtor’s weekly disposable earnings subject to levy under an earnings withholding order from exceeding the lesser of 25% of the individual’s weekly disposable earnings or the amount by which the individual’s disposable earnings for the week exceed 40 times the state minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are payable, as specified, unless an exception applies. An employer is required, except as otherwise provided by statute, to withhold the amounts required by an earnings withholding order from all earnings of the employee payable for any pay period of the employee which ends during the withholding period.
This bill would reduce the prohibited amount of an individual judgment debtor’s weekly disposable earnings subject to levy under an earnings withholding order from exceeding the lesser ofbegin delete 10%end deletebegin insert 25%end insert of the individual’s weekly disposable earnings orbegin delete end deletebegin delete1⁄3end deletebegin insert
30%end insert of the amount by which the individual’s disposable earnings for the week exceed 40 times the state minimum hourly wage, or applicable local minimum hourly wage, if higher, in effect at the time the earnings are payable.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 706.050 of the Code of Civil Procedure
2 is amended to read:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the
4maximum amount of disposable earnings of an individual judgment
5debtor for any workweek that is subject to levy under an earnings
6withholding order shall not exceed the lesser of the following:
7(1) begin deleteTen percent end deletebegin insertTwenty-five percent end insertof the individual’s
8disposable earnings for that week.
9(2) begin deleteOne-third end deletebegin insertThirty
percent end insertof the amount by which the
10individual’s disposable earnings for that week exceed 40 times the
11state minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are
12payable. If a judgment debtor works in a location where the local
13minimum hourly wage is greater than the state minimum hourly
14wage, the local minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the
15earnings are payable shall be used for the calculation made pursuant
16to this paragraph.
17(b) For any pay period other than weekly, the following
18multipliers shall be used to determine the maximum amount of
19disposable earnings subject to levy under an earnings withholding
20order that is proportional in effect to the calculation described in
21paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), except as specified in paragraph
22(1):
23(1) For a daily pay period, the amounts shall be identical to the
24amounts described in subdivision (a).
25(2) For a biweekly pay period, multiply the applicable hourly
26minimum wage by 80 work hours.
27(3) For a semimonthly pay period, multiply the applicable hourly
28minimum wage by 862⁄3 work hours.
P3 1(4) For a monthly pay period, multiply the applicable hourly
2minimum wage by 1731⁄3 work hours.
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