Financial security is important at every age and career stage. In some cases, however, you may find this security jeopardized through a process known as wage garnishment, a court order requiring your employer to withhold money from your pay to satisfy a creditor.
“Wage garnishment will affect more individuals in 2025, and I’ve witnessed personally how it takes both employees and businesses off guard,” said Benson Varghese, a board-certified criminal lawyer and a criminal defense attorney, as well as the founder and managing partner of Texas law firm Varghese Summersett, in an email.
What Is Wage Garnishment?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, wage garnishment is “a legal procedure in which a person’s earnings are required by court order to be withheld by an employer for the payment of a debt, such as child support.”
It’s important to understand why your wages might be garnished, how employers calculate wage garnishment, where wage garnishment laws are changing and how to stop wage garnishment.
[READ: How to Stop an IRS Wage Garnishment Immediately]
Why Are Wages Garnished?
There are a number of reasons why wage garnishment can occur. These include defaulted student loans or car loans, debt owed to a credit card company, and failure to pay child support, alimony or taxes.
Nearly 3% of the workforce had their paychecks garnished in February 2024, according to a September report from payroll company ADP.
How Is Wage Garnishment Calculated?
The federal Consumer Credit Protection Act specifies a maximum dollar figure that an employer can garnish from an employee’s paycheck in a given pay period or workweek. This limitation is set no matter how many garnishment orders the employer has received.
The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division specifies that for ordinary garnishments — or “those not for support, bankruptcy, or any state or federal tax” — the weekly amount to be garnished from your paycheck can’t exceed the lesser of two figures:
— One-fourth of your disposable earnings, which is how much is left in your paycheck once legal deductions such as taxes and Social Security have been made
— The amount by which your disposable earnings are greater than 30 times the federal minimum wage
The Department of Labor offers the following example on its website:
Say you have a weekly pay period and your disposable earnings are $217.50 or less. If $7.25 is the federal minimum wage, the employer cannot legally garnish your wages in this case. But if your disposable earnings are greater than $217.50 but less than $290 (which is the minimum wage times 40 in this case), then your employer can garnish $72.50. And if your disposable earnings total $290 or more, the maximum amount the employer can garnish is 25%.
The department also notes that if your pay periods cover more than a single week, your employer must use multiples of the weekly restrictions to determine the highest amount it can garnish. You can see a table that calculates sample amounts or use this free online wage garnishment calculator for reference.
Creditors can’t garnish the wages of freelancers and independent contractors since they are not paid by employers, but they can pursue a non-earnings garnishment, which targets property of the debtor held by a third party such as a bank.
[Read: Things Your Boss Can’t Legally Do.]
State Changes to Wage Garnishment Laws in 2025
Federal law sets a baseline, but wage garnishment laws may differ on a state-by-state basis. Varghese notes that some states are tightening the regulations.
In 2025, California and Oregon introduced important modifications to their existing wage garnishment laws. In California, a January law “requires a judgment creditor to take additional steps to verify a judgment debtor’s address and provide notice of enforcement,” according to Nolo, a legal services and resources website.
Other changes to the California law include new limits on garnishment enforcement, the frequency a wage garnishment can be sought and the mandate that financial institutions protect exempt funds.
Oregon’s wage garnishment law now limits the amount that can be garnished per paycheck. Senate Bill 1595, otherwise known as the Family Financial Protection Act, set limits for wage garnishment at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or specific dollar amounts. These are set to increase over time.
David Gammill, a trial attorney and founder of Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers, explains that with the Oregon law, the biggest shift is in how much income is protected from garnishment. “Until June 30, the limit is either 25% of disposable earnings or a fixed amount based on pay periods, $305 for weekly pay, $611 biweekly, $655 semi-monthly,” Gammill said in an email. “After that, the limits keep increasing until 2027, when they’ll be tied to the state minimum wage.”
He added that employers are responsible for updating payroll systems to stay compliant and must keep records for at least three years. If they don’t, penalties can hit $1,000 per violation.
Alabama-based attorney Shane Lucado, founder and CEO of the legal marketplace InPerSuit, also notes that the introduction of electronic garnishment programs — like California’s eGarnishment Program, which is currently in a pilot phase — is transforming the wage garnishment process, “reducing administrative burdens and expediting the initiation of wage withholding.”
[See: 20 Careers With the Most Job Security Right Now.]
How to Stop or Challenge Wage Garnishment
One way to stop wage garnishment is by paying off the debt, whether you make a lump-sum payment or set up installment payments through creditors.
If you feel that your wages are being garnished illegally, the best thing to do is to go directly to the source with decision-making power. Submit a complaint to the Wage and Hour Division, which has final authority when questions arise over the amount of money garnished from an employee’s paycheck. The division offers resources and additional information to help employees file a complaint related to wage garnishment.
You can also try to stop or challenge wage garnishment by speaking with a lawyer. “Usually, you have the right to written notice and a hearing before your employer starts holding back some of your wages to pay your judgment creditor,” according to Nolo. However, time is limited — anywhere from five days to a month — to raise your objections before wage garnishments begin.
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What Is Wage Garnishment? originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 03/12/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
