How Does Switching Jobs Affect My Wage Garnishment?

A wage garnishment is a legal remedy that your creditors have against you in the event you do not pay monies owed. Once a court grants a wage garnishment to the creditor, it is served to your employer. From that point on, your employer is legally obligated to withhold funds from your pay and submit the payments to the court, who in turn sends the payments to your creditor.

Writ of Garnishment

When the court rules in favor of the creditor, a writ of garnishment is issued. The writ specifies your current employer. If you quit your job or are fired or laid off, the creditor must go back to court and request a new writ specific to your new employer. A sheriff will deliver the garnishment paperwork to your new employer and the new employer will withhold funds from your pay, just like your previous employer did.

Timeline

While changing jobs can slow down the garnishment process, it will not stop a garnishment. Your employer is required to notify the court when you no longer work there anymore. Once this happens, the creditor will make an effort to track down your new employer. Once the new employer has been located, a new court date must be set. On average, the whole process will delay your wage garnishment one to two months.

Steps

If you are concerned about paying off your creditor quickly, this may be your opportunity to contact the creditor to make payment arrangements rather than wait for your new employer to find out you have financial problems. You are not obligated to tell the creditor your new place of employment. The creditor may prefer to work with you than to incur the additional court costs, or if you like the money taken directly out of your check and want the debt paid off as quickly as possible, contact the creditor and provide the new employer information. A new writ can be issued more quickly this way.

Prevention

An employer may look unfavorably on any employee who is garnished. The best course of action is to prevent a wage garnishment before it starts. Work with your creditor to set up repayment terms. Many creditors would prefer to take payments than to go through the time and expense of a court case. Do your part by following up on whatever new payment terms that can be negotiated.