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, commencing July 1, 2016, 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 40%end deletebegin insert 50%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) The amount by which the individual’s disposable earnings
10for that week exceed 40 times the state minimum hourly wage in
11effect at the time the earnings are payable.
12(b) For any pay period other than weekly, the following
13multipliers
shall be used to determine the maximum amount of
14disposable earnings subject to levy under an earnings withholding
15order that is proportional in effect to the calculation described in
16paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), except as specified in paragraph
17(1):
18(1) For a daily pay period, the amounts shall be identical to the
19amounts described in subdivision (a).
20(2) For a biweekly pay period, multiply the state hourly
21minimum wage by 80 work hours.
22(3) For a semimonthly pay period, multiply the state
hourly
23minimum wage by 862⁄3 work hours.
24(4) For a monthly pay period, multiply the state hourly minimum
25wage by 1731⁄3 work hours.
P3 1(c) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2016, and,
2as of January 1, 2017, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
3that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2017, deletes or
4extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
Section 706.050 is added to the Code of Civil
6Procedure, to read:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the
8maximum amount of disposable earnings of an individual judgment
9debtor for any workweek that is subject to levy under an earnings
10withholding order shall not exceed the lesser of the following:
11(1) Twenty-five percent of the individual’s disposable earnings
12for that week.
13(2) begin deleteForty end deletebegin insertFifty end insertpercent of the amount by which the individual’s
14disposable earnings for that week exceed 40 times
the state
15minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are
16payable. If a judgment debtor works in a location where the local
17minimum hourly wage is greater than the state minimum hourly
18wage, the local minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the
19earnings are payable shall be used for the calculation made pursuant
20to this paragraph.
21(b) For any pay period other than weekly, the following
22multipliers shall be used to determine the maximum amount of
23disposable earnings subject to levy under an earnings withholding
24order that is proportional in effect to the calculation described in
25paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), except as specified in paragraph
26(1):
27(1) For a daily pay period, the amounts shall be identical to the
28amounts described in subdivision (a).
29(2) For a biweekly pay period, multiply the applicable hourly
30minimum wage by 80 work hours.
31(3) For a semimonthly pay period, multiply the applicable hourly
32minimum wage by 862⁄3 work hours.
33(4) For a monthly pay period, multiply the applicable hourly
34minimum wage by 1731⁄3 work hours.
35(c) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2016.
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