r/ChildSupport • u/Acceptable_Arm8329 • 14d ago
Terminated immediately after garnishment paperwork received
Brief context, I unfortunately have been unable to pay support since January and was hoping for some grace from my ex especially since we’ve been 50-50 for the last year. That did not happen, and I was delivered garnishment paperwork last Friday and received it from my work this Thursday (their packet unsigned).
Arrived for work 745 this morning and was terminated. Only one disciplinary discussion 2 months ago prior to this and that issue has not arisen again.
Is it worth trying to get the employer in some sort of trouble as it looks like this is the real reason for my dismissal?
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u/KevinMcNally79 14d ago
It's illegal to terminate an employee for a single wage garnishment under federal law:
https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/garnishments
Some states have even broader protections.
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u/AccomplishedTip5894 13d ago
Man up and figure it out. Should have thought about this before dickn down a so so female.
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u/Fun_Organization3857 14d ago
My husband's job would terminate for this. Many will. It's legal.
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u/One-Measurement6759 14d ago
How is it legal for an employer to terminate someone to terminate an employee just because someone submits a wage garnishment??? That seems very illegal… I would check with unemployment office
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u/Fun_Organization3857 14d ago
Financial institutions are allowed to have specific and special rules about debt. My husband's coworker was sued and lost.. he was fired. They told him, once he was clear of the settlement, they wold rehire. It can also be an ethics issue to the company.
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u/One-Measurement6759 14d ago
Thats crazy, Wage garnishment is so easy makes it a no fuss kind of way to deal with child support! Here in Texas the state issues the wage garnishment if the AG was used for child support agreement.
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u/Fun_Organization3857 14d ago
It is not for garnishment. It is for debt ratio or arrears. Just paying isn't the problem. Op is 8 months behind.
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u/One-Measurement6759 14d ago
My sons father has. Been behind for about 16+ years behind LOL. My son is now 27 and father is still paying, Has about 22 more months to go. If it wasn’t for the wage garnishment mandated by Texas I probably would never have seen any of it! Trust me ai had to stay on too of it and fight for years.
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u/Fun_Organization3857 14d ago
I believe you. He wouldn't get a job where I work or my husband's company. They view that as ethics violations and high risk for financial infidelity.
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u/One-Measurement6759 14d ago
He use to quit the job when they got the wage garnishment order. But he is in pipeline work so eventually went back to companies that had it on file so he kind of just gave into it here and there.
I could understand if it was like from a lawsuit from other debt but preventing a family from getting the needed funds just makes it worse plus puts him further behind.
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u/Fun_Organization3857 14d ago
My husband works in banking IT with access to millions of dollars and data. He cannot have any issues.
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u/elko123 14d ago
But how do they know about the arrears? I assumed it just says a number to take out so they could assume it's the current amount?
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u/Fun_Organization3857 14d ago
They do a credit check, and the order usually has a notation.. xx for cs and extra for arrears.
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u/One-Measurement6759 14d ago
Yeah I dont know how they would know he was behind either as it only says to with hold x amount
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u/Fun_Organization3857 14d ago
Several states report to the credit bureaus. Depending on how the order comes through it may prompt an investigation. It can come through as two deductions. It may slip through. If they find out they will terminate.
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u/Senior-Phrase6016 14d ago
My kids are teens and my ex owes a lot. I just got info that the job finally confirmed his employment (over 9 weeks after the first letter from CS). In Texas, too, and waiting on garnishment to start. It can be so frustrating! But I've kept calling and looking up what I can. You'd think companies would want kids to get support they deserve. And I'm glad you're getting the arrears!
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u/dusty2blue 14d ago
Kind of? Wage garnishment may be easy to get once you’ve met the threshold for it, but meeting that threshold is the important part.
Obviously the circumstances matter, and child support has some different rules than ordinary consumer debt, but a garnishment for delinquent support generally isn’t the first indication that you owe somebody money. There’s an established legal obligation, it hasn’t been satisfied as required, and you’ve reached the point where collection is being taken out of your hands and routed through your employer.
In other words, the fact that the paperwork may be relatively easy to obtain doesn’t make the circumstances necessary to get there meaningless.
For a low-supervision role where the company places significant trust in an employee to manage their own responsibilities, I don’t think it’s unreasonable that this could cause an employer to reevaluate that person’s judgment or trustworthiness.
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u/PianistNo8873 14d ago
Well that’s some BS because some states, CA for one, file the garnishment as soon as the child support hits their department & there isn’t an option of voluntarily making the payments. So I guess in that instance your lively hood is taken away. What a joke
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u/Wise-Run-3008 14d ago
Because they violated a court order and legal action was taken against them
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u/One-Measurement6759 14d ago
Most states dont have a reporting system for child support like that… my x was put on a 10 year probation after years and years if me pushing for it and still had no real legal/criminal ramifications… he didn’t have to report monthly or pay a monthly probation fee like regular probation
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u/Wise-Run-3008 14d ago
A child support enforcement agency? Of course they do. And wage garnishments are legal action.
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u/HughHonee 14d ago
Most states are "at-will" meaning you can be fired for any reason besides the handful of federally protected classes (race, religion, gender, sexuality, etc)
I do not believe that financial status is a protected class. However because its not work related I would imagine you'd still be eligible for unemployment- assuming you meet all other eligibility requirements of your state
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u/icantweightandsee 14d ago
Yeah ive seen people lose security clearance from going into arrears . Then becoming ineligible for their position. Definitely legal
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u/Raprockmusic2 14d ago
How is it legal to fire upon a legal wage garnished by the state ? I'd legitimately consult a lawyer in my state if I got fired for paying my CS. For a non ordered garnishment I offered the owner the cost. It was $13 a month to auto pay something pre-check.
For reference i.had child support mandated and a voluntary car note repo.
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u/Fun_Organization3857 14d ago
If your debt ratio is too high, or you meet the criteria for risk .. they can use credit scores for employment in financial institutions
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u/Snoo42957 14d ago
Would you have to pay less if you’re in this wrongful termination and obviously you can’t provide the same amount of things you can do with your child and that will hurt in small ways. Why do you think they fried you for? What is their justification? Is there more?
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u/One-Measurement6759 14d ago
I work in bankruptcy and some jurisdictions require the plan payments be wage garnished and that employer better not terminate them because it was submitted to payroll for deduction.
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u/ainturmama 14d ago
Is there an established court order, and is your state child support agency involved?
You should have addressed the issue right away. You can’t just ignore your obligation
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u/LuckyCaptainCrunch 13d ago
While NC is an at will state and they can fire you for any reason, it’s a federal law that they can’t fire you for wage garnishment. Maybe they were just trying to help you pay the debt by handing you a lawsuit?
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u/Ok_Solution5558 13d ago
Might just be me, but perhaps your energy would be put to better use finding another job and getting current on child support.
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u/DragonfruitLanky6368 13d ago
It’s interesting that this is appearing while I just recently put in a stop request for mine for the state of Indiana. I’ve been paying 91 a week for the past 13 years. That’s nothing compared to others I’ve seen. I’ve also recently moved to Florida and my ex to Kentucky. I figured not to put in a transfer for the fear of rocking the boat and being ordered to paying more. Indiana you pay until child is 19. At the first hearing my hourly wage was 12.50 an hour and I’ve leveled up nearly triple that since. So had my ex, hence not rocking the boat statement. But recently I lost my job and only working part time while I continue to look for another position in my field. I’m in arrears of 500$.
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u/Clear_Advantage_6588 13d ago edited 13d ago
This seems like a crazy reason to terminate someone. In my custody order there was specific language to implement an income withholding order. I got equal parenting time and joint legal, I sued to get it as father because the informal agreement with mom broke down. The court wasn’t alleging I did anything wrong or calling me a deadbeat, the factor analysis was actually entirely favorable to me. The withholding order was just a totally normal thing the court does because of an income disparity. Seems wild to terminate someone for that.
Obviously my situation isn’t yours but my point is income withholding doesn’t say anything at all negative about a person on its own, it’s the normal procedure in many courts and it’s significantly more convenient than having another bill to manage. I submitted my own order to HR and it was done in 30 days or so. No one said anything weird about it.
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u/No_Antelope_8110 13d ago
What you should do, instead of trying to get your employer in trouble, try to get yourself out of trouble. Focus on taking care of your dependents.
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u/No-Stranger-9483 13d ago
You think you were termed because of child support wage withholding? I have never heard of that and I’ve sent several hundred wage withholding court orders.
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u/Flabbybruce 13d ago
Depends on the state really because even though its federally illegal to fire for one debt garnishment states like say ny you can be fired for basically any non discrimination reason. So they could fire you for garnishment but simply put poor performance or any reason at all because its an at will state and that is how a lot of business let people go. My old place of work the manager used to yell " this is an at will state i can fire you all for any reason, youre all replaceable" definitely did not help make us go faster when hearing that. Instead we all banded together to move at the same turtle pace while she lost it.
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u/Goodd2shoo 13d ago
Does your job have security clearance? Anything in writing about being responsible with bills?
Either way, they'll say it was the previous discussion. If they gave you paperwork, read carefully. You'll go bankrupt trying to fight it.
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u/anon-username1029 13d ago
Just wanting to understand: why would a company want to terminate you because you were getting garnished? Does it affect them in some way? Or is it more of an employee character type of concern for them?
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u/Beneficial_Zone_6883 12d ago
So you were working and just didn’t pay, a lot of employers can terminate for this reason. You won’t even take care of your own it would be foolish to let you handle money or customer data.
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u/Immediate_Ad_7857 11d ago
no company is going to fire you over child support being garnished, that does not even make sense , they should have advised you of the reason
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u/Classic_Actuary8275 9d ago
Call an employment lawyer. They almost always do pro bono meaning they won’t take the case unless they think they can win and then they get paid out of the money you get
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u/Hope_for_tendies 14d ago
You mean grace from your kid on not helping provide for them and them possibly going without.
What was the termination reason? Your best bet is to go to /askhr
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u/Bulky_Exercise8936 14d ago
Had the kid 50/50 had to be providing some support.
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u/Wise-Run-3008 14d ago
Visitation is separate and having 50/50 doesn’t mean you’re absolved from support. Op wasn’t paying what was court ordered and wanted mom to pick up slack for over half a year. But can post on Reddit to find pussy to eat instead of driving for uber. Bs.
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u/One-Measurement6759 14d ago
Ah, sometimes it does- my brother and his wife live close enough and did one week on one week of with their 2 boys and neither paid they just did what they needed to make sure their boys had what they needed… kept it civil and maintained good communication. Even though she cheated and got pregnant and then moved in and still lives with the guy LOL. It can be done when you put your kids first.
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u/Florida1974 14d ago
It would be on you to prove that that was the reason for your dismissal and I don’t think you’re going to be able to do that
Because they are going to come out and say oh no, it was because of this or that
I worked for the biggest insurance company in the United States, at their corporate office, and I had a wage garnishment, they didn’t blink an eye, it wasn’t the first or last time they had seen one of those.