lien against wages

Carolil · September 2011

Our payroll department has received a document from an outfit called E Care Contact Centers. They say our EE authorized them to collect $$ from us in the case of default on a loan, and offer a copy of a "digital signature" (essentially her name typed into a field) as evidence. When asked, EE says "I may have signed something to that effect, I signed a bunch of stuff during that time frame and don't really know, but if I don't have to have it deducted I'd rather not." Our policy is that we don't withhold unless required by law or court order, and this doesn't seem to fall into that. Do you concur? Does it matter if she may have given permission?

I'm checking into our state laws now.

NaeNae55 · September 2011

Her permission is not the same as your policy. If it is your policy to allow deductions based on employee's authorizations, then this one qualifies. If not, the debtor will need to go through legal channels.

Many organizations require the latter or you may find yourself sending payments to all kinds of places based on the whim of your employees. This is not a big issue in smaller companies, but would be a nightmare in a larger organization. I recommend that you explain your policy to the debtor and then follow it. Good luck!

Dutch2 · September 2011

Same here.... all we do are garnishments that have been approved through the legal system. We would consider this a private matter between the employee and the financial institution they used for their loan.

joannie · September 2011

What they said.:)

ACU Frank · September 2011

Court-ordered only.

bethk · September 2011

Exactly. Court ordered only. We receive those also from time to time but we don't process them.

Carolil · September 2011

thanks all. that is what we did. we are a small-ish company and don't see these a lot, it's amazing how "official looking" these demands can be, and how assertive companies can be in their approach. they tried to talk us into checking with the EE to see if they were willing to have us do it, but as you all pointed out we don't want to start down that path.

I did take the additional step of notifying the employee of our decision, and gently encouraging her to take care of this before we *are* served with a court order.

SpartanFan · September 2011

Just a side note - even if the employee gives "permission", get the employee to put the permission in writing authorizing the deduction from pay. Additionally, in almost all cases of such employee-authorized deductions, the deducted amount cannot drop the employee below minimum wage (if they are non-exempt). Exception to this is a tax lien from the IRS (they can get whatever they want)

lien against wages

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