[Glowie]

Recently I discovered the company I work for "garnished several months" of my pay - in err.:(

I want to know if they are legally responsible for returning my money to me with a small amount of interest?

[CaptainForest]

Depends.

Why did the garnish it? Was it because they received a court order telling them to? In which case, they have done nothing wrong.

Always check your bank account to make sure the proper amount of money has been deposited into your account.

[Fr_Chuck]

Hello, funny thing I had a few hundred dollars taken from my pay by error from a garnishment last month myself. Must be a round of it.
In doing it they even violated several state laws.

In may case it was for a person with the same last name ( an unusual name but same last name) and same first initial. But different first name and completely different social security number. The company that pays me just did not check social security number.

As soon as I notified them, they realised their error and they were required to pay them. I hope they can get the money back from the court, but they had to pay me.


So tell us how was it in error.

Was there a garnishment for you that was given them.

Was the garnihsment for someone else.

Was the garnishment valid at one time but had been over turned in court.

Was it a valid garnishment but they took too much money.


If there was not a legal garnishment and they took the money out, yes they have to pay it back, there was also (most likely) a garnishment fee that was taken also, normally each company is allowed to bill a 3 or 4 dollar fee for their time and trouble. There is no requirement to pay any interest.

If you explain more about it, it can help

[Glowie]

An old garnishment that was completely paid off is how the situation happened. A new payroll clerk misread a lot of employees files and began taking out monies for old garnishments. Some discovered the error sooner tha others.

Thanks for the response - I really appreciate it. I thought if someone withheld monies not belonging to them they had to pay it back with a small amount of interest.

[Fr_Chuck]

There may be a state law in your specific state, that I am not aware of but in "general" no.

In TN they are by law required ( the employor) are suppose to send you a letter telling you that you have been garnished and they will start taking... our on... date. They did not even do that for me.
I get paid various amounts, so I hate to say it was on the fourth check before I noticed it. I get paid by different areas of money go plus I get all of my office petty cash returned on my check that unless I look at it close I never know what is what. I normally keep a closer look on my check, this is a good warning or notice to everyone reading this, always keep a eye on your paycheck