Garnishment of earnings: Limitations on amount.
1. As used in this section, the term “disposable earnings” means that part of the earnings of any person remaining after the deduction from those earnings of any amounts required by law to be withheld.
2. The maximum amount of the aggregate disposable earnings of a person which are subject to garnishment may not exceed:
(a) Twenty-five percent of his disposable earnings for the relevant pay period; or
(b) The amount by which his disposable earnings for each week of that period exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by section 6(a)(1) of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in effect at the time the earnings are payable,
Ê whichever is less.
3. The restrictions of subsection 2 do not apply in the case of:
(a) Any order of any court for the support of any person.
(b) Any order of any court of bankruptcy.
(c) Any debt due for any state or federal tax.
4. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the maximum amount of the aggregate disposable earnings of a person for any workweek which are subject to garnishment to enforce any order for the support of any person may not exceed:
(a) Fifty percent of his disposable earnings for that week if he is supporting a spouse or child other than the spouse or child for whom the order of support was rendered; or
(b) Sixty percent of his disposable earnings for that week if he is not supporting such a spouse or child,
Ê except that if the garnishment is to enforce a previous order of support with respect to a period occurring at least 12 weeks before the beginning of the workweek, the limits which apply to the situations described in paragraphs (a) and (b) are 55 percent and 65 percent, respectively.
Last modified: February 27, 2006