Handle multiple wage garnishments
We support up to two active garnishments per employee at a time, so if you're setting up a second garnishment for an employee, determine which garnishment has priority over the other. If the garnishment order didn't specify the priority, contact the agency that issued the order.
Determining the priority of orders
Garnishments are applied to an employee's disposable income, which is the amount of pay that remains after taxes and any exempt deductions, as defined by the garnishment. In some cases, the employee's disposable income is not enough to satisfy both orders completely. When you set up the second garnishment, you can indicate the weighting you want to use: pay one garnishment first, pay both equally, or pay pro-rated amounts for each garnishment.
When determining which order to pay first, consider the following rules about each type of garnishment:
Federal tax levy
- Only a bankruptcy order or existing child/spousal support order has priority over a new federal tax levy.
- If you receive multiple federal tax levies for an employee, the order with the oldest effective date has priority.
Child/spousal support order
- Child/spousal support orders have priority over a new federal tax levy.
- An existing federal tax levy takes priority over a new child/spousal support order.
- An existing child/spousal order has priority over a new child/spousal support order. If the existing order does not take priority, notify your state's Child Support Enforcement agency.
Other garnishment types
- A bankruptcy order has first priority.
- An existing federal tax levy or child/spousal support order has priority over a non-bankruptcy order.
- For all other creditors, determine priority from the order or call the state agency for details.
What if my employee has more than two recurring garnishments?
If you need to set up more than two recurring garnishments for an employee, contact us. We'll help you set up any additional garnishment as a voluntary after-tax deduction.
See also
Still stuck? Contact us