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 wouldbegin insert, commencing July 1, 2016,end insert 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 of 25% of the individual’s weekly disposable earnings orbegin delete 30%end deletebegin insert 40%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) Twenty-five percent of the individual’s disposable earnings
8for that week.
9(2) begin deleteThirty
percent of the end delete
10disposable earnings for that week exceed 40 times the state
11minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are
12payable.begin delete 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.end delete
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 thebegin delete applicableend deletebegin insert stateend insert
26 hourly minimum wage by 80 work hours.
P3 1(3) For a semimonthly pay period, multiply thebegin delete applicableend deletebegin insert stateend insert
2
hourly minimum wage by 862⁄3 work hours.
3(4) For a monthly pay period, multiply thebegin delete applicableend deletebegin insert stateend insert
4 hourly minimum wage by 1731⁄3 work hours.
5begin insert(c)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertThis section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2016, and,
6as of January 1, 2017, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
7that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2017, deletes or
8extends the
dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.end insert
begin insertSection 706.050 is added to the end insertbegin insertCode of Civil
10Procedureend insertbegin insert, to read:end insert
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the
12maximum amount of disposable earnings of an individual judgment
13debtor for any workweek that is subject to levy under an earnings
14withholding order shall not exceed the lesser of the following:
15(1) Twenty-five percent of the individual’s disposable earnings
16for that week.
17(2) Forty percent of the amount by which the individual’s
18disposable earnings for that week exceed 40 times the state
19minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are
20payable. If a judgment debtor works in a location where the local
21minimum hourly wage is greater than the state minimum hourly
22wage, the local minimum hourly wage in effect at the
time the
23earnings are payable shall be used for the calculation made
24pursuant to this paragraph.
25(b) For any pay period other than weekly, the following
26multipliers shall be used to determine the maximum amount of
27disposable earnings subject to levy under an earnings withholding
28order that is proportional in effect to the calculation described in
29paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), except as specified in paragraph
30(1):
31(1) For a daily pay period, the amounts shall be identical to the
32amounts described in subdivision (a).
33(2) For a biweekly pay period, multiply the applicable hourly
34minimum wage by 80 work hours.
35(3) For a semimonthly pay period, multiply the applicable hourly
36minimum wage by
862⁄3 work hours.
37(4) For a monthly pay period, multiply the applicable hourly
38minimum wage by 1731⁄3 work hours.
P4 1(c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2016.
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