I do have a judgement to garnish wages, the person works at a steak house and gets tips, I was told that they can't garnish the tips and the hourly amount he is paid is like $2.75 an hour. What can I do to collect the monies owed legally? They are not able to garnish on the $2.75 ? The person makes about 300.00 to 400.00 weekly. I am in the state of Tennessee if that matters.

Mark

Abba, I am sure that you will get many responses to your question if you pick a proper topic heading from the list, it will get many more viewings.

'Introductions' are for saying hello and telling us a little about yourself. Please pick a topic, it will help you get answers.

Thanks,
Stringer

Moved from Introductions to Other Law.

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Originally Posted by J_9

Moved from Introductions to Other Law.

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Thanks J, still getting used to how I am to do this...

You cannot get a garnishment against tips - when wages are involved the EMPLOYER sends the money to the creditor. When tips are involved (usually) the debtor gets the money directly and it does not pass through an employer.

Common question, by the way.

You are learning the Catch 22 of getting a judgement. Often getting the judgement is the easy part. Collecting is much harder.

If you can find some other asset like bank accounts you may be able to file a writ of attachment on them.

I'm curious as to how a person would go about taking home $400/week at $2.75/hour. That would mean they worked 145 hours at their regular pay rate.

And like Scott pointed out, try finding out where they bank. That will probably be your best option.

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Originally Posted by this8384

I'm curious as to how a person would go about taking home $400/week at $2.75/hour. That would mean they worked 145 hours at their regular pay rate.

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Its not unlusual for a restaurant server to make 3-4 times their actual salary in tips.

Thanks for the help... I have found form Logan's Steak house, they can't garnish tips because that money is from the customer which they do not control. The $2 something an hour is what they are required to pay, they said that would not amount to be enough to garnish. He is getting over $300 a week in tips.