Garnished Wages for Bounced Checks

When a person writes a check on a closed or underfunded account, that check generally constitutes a bad check. This is especially true when the person who wrote the check knew about the checking account's status when he wrote the check. In some states, such as Georgia, writing bad checks can land you in jail. Sometimes, however, writing bad checks results in less harsh penalties, such as wage garnishment.

Judgment

Generally, a wage garnishment is a means of collecting on a judgment. Accordingly, before obtaining the right to garnish your wages, the creditor typically must obtain a court judgment. To do this, the party alleging the wrong, called the plaintiff, must file a civil complaint. Once the plaintiff files the complaint, the alleged wrongdoer, called the defendant, has a legally prescribed time to answer the complaint. After the defendant answers, the court sets a court date for the parties to tell their sides of the story and ask the judge for what they want. The plaintiff only obtains a judgment if he wins.

Wage Garnishment

When a bad check's payee receives a court judgment, he becomes a judgment creditor and the check writer becomes a judgment debtor. The judgment allows the judgment creditor to obtain a wage garnishment. The garnishment instructs the employer to pay the creditor a portion of the debtor's wages. Once an employer receives a garnishment, it becomes what's called a garnishee. When this happens, the burden to pay the debt resulting from the bad check shifts from the debtor to his employer. If the employer does not pay the required amount, the judgment creditor may pursue legal action against the employer.

Restrictions

The creditor cannot garnish all of the judgment debtor's wages. Lawmakers recognize that, typically, if a creditor could take all your wages, it would. Accordingly, there are laws in place restricting how much of your wages a creditor may garnish. For example, in Georgia, a creditor may garnish the smaller of one of two amounts. Either 25 percent of your disposable income, or the amount exceeding 30 times the federal minimum wage. So, if you earn $500 per week in disposable income, the creditor may garnish $125 per week, because $125 ($500 x .25) is less than $282.50 ($500 - (30 x $7.25)). Note that judgment creditors generally may not garnish earnings from government funds such as unemployment or Social Security.

Self-Employed

Judgment creditors may also subject self-employed individuals to wage garnishment. Some self-employed debtors work around the requirement, however, by claiming they do not earn a wage from the business. In some states, creditors may use a more aggressive measure known as the till tap in cases like these. The till tap involves having a sheriff walk into a person's business and take the cash from his cash register.