As an employer, there are a number of things you are obligated to do when it comes to your employees and their pay. You must decide if you will have someone within the company handle payroll or if you will hire a service. You will have to determine how much you will pay your employees and how much raises will be. And, depending on a certain employee’s financial situation, they may owe money for alimony, child custody or something else. When this happens, they may have to have their wages garnished. Should this happen, not only is the employee obligated to pay this debt, but there are also things expected of their employer.

The following are the employer’s obligations should they have an employee whose wages are to be garnished:

Responding to garnishment order

When an employee’s wages are to be garnished, a notice will be sent to their employer explaining that they are to withhold a certain amount from a certain employee’s pay because it has been court ordered. Once the employer receives this notice, they typically have seven days to respond. Basically, the response should be an agreement to withhold these funds from their employee’s wages.

Calculating the garnishment amount

A garnishment notice is not only for the employer to adhere to, but also for whoever is in charge of payroll, as they are the person who issues payment to the employees, withhold taxes and take care of anything else regarding pay. Depending on how much the employee makes, there will be a certain amount that is to be withheld from their check. The withholding and the calculating of this amount is something that the employer must do.

Withholding funds

Withholding the funds that the employee is required to pay is also one of the employer’s obligations. This means, that along with the other calculations that must be done, such as Federal and State taxes, wage garnishment is added to the list of funds that are to be withheld. Like with the other amounts, it is important that the calculations are done correctly, so the appropriate amount is sent to them designate party in a timely manner.

Remitting payment to designated party

The point of withholding the funds is so that the agency the person owes can finally receive their money. After the calculations and the withholding is complete, it will then be time for the employer to remit payment to the designated party. It is extremely important that the payment be addressed to the correct agency, as this can result in the employer being penalized. If need be, double check address and names of where and who this payment is to be sent to and send it certified mail, so there is proof that payments are in fact being sent.

It is understandable that people get into financial trouble from time to time. Wage garnishment notices should not be ignored by employers. The debt may be owed by their employer and there may be fees the employer may have to be in order to garnish the wages, but it is something that they must do if they don’t want to be penalized.