48. Notice to be mailed to assignor prior to filing with employer. 1. No assignment of future earnings shall be filed with the assignor's employer until twenty days shall have elapsed after a written notice shall have been mailed to the assignor by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to his last known place of residence stating that unless the amounts in default are paid within twenty days from the date of the mailing, the assignment will be filed with the assignor's employer. If the aforesaid notice is returned undelivered it may be mailed to the assignor by certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to the assignor at the address where he is employed or, in the alternative, it may be served in the same manner as a summons.
Such written notice shall not be mailed by the assignee until at least twenty-one days shall have elapsed after default by the assignor in a payment due on the indebtedness and such written notice shall contain substantially the following language: "Bring this notice with you when making any payment on account of your indebtedness and have the payment endorsed on this notice."
2. If a payment in any amount is accepted by the assignee after the mailing of said notice and if the fact of such payment is noted in writing by the assignee at the time of the acceptance of the payment, either upon the notice or upon some other paper bearing a reference to said notice, the assignor shall no longer be considered in default for the purpose of permitting an assignment to be filed with the assignor's employer. In the event, however, of any subsequent default, the assignee may file the assignment upon compliance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph of this section as though no prior default had occurred.
3. The written notice required by subdivision one of this section shall be accompanied by copies of the papers required to be delivered by section forty-six-e of this article and by a written notice which shall contain substantially the following language:
"If you believe that you have a defense to the aforesaid wage assignment or the debt secured thereby you are entitled to follow either of the following procedures designed as (a) and (b).
(a) You are entitled to a hearing before a court of record in accordance with the provisions of section forty-seven-e of the personal property law which reads as follows: (insert provisions of section forty-seven-e of the personal property law)
(b) Within ten days after receipt of the aforesaid notice, you are entitled to mail to the assignee, by certified mail return receipt requested, a written notice containing your name, residence address and substantially the following language:
'I (insert name) residing at (insert address) hereby affirm that I have a bona fide defense to the claim in your notice dated (insert date of notice) and to the wage assignment given as security therefor, based upon the following facts (state the facts constituting the basis of your defense)'"
4. Upon receipt of such notice the assignee shall be precluded from filing such wage assignment with the employer until it obtains an order of a court of record authorizing such filing. The assignee shall be entitled to institute a special proceeding in a court of record to obtain such an order. At least eight days' notice of the application for such order shall be given to the assignor in the manner prescribed in subdivision one of this section and if a hearing is held the assignor shall have all the rights prescribed by section forty-seven-e of this article.
Last modified: February 3, 2019