Wage garnishment in New York

Most a card or collector judgment can take

10% of gross pay, never above 25% of take-home or the part above the floorsource

Pay you always keep

$510 a week in NYC, Long Island and Westchester; $480 elsewheresource

Hospital and doctor judgments

No income execution allowedsource

Bank accounts

240 x minimum wage can’t be restrained: $4,080 at $17.00, $3,840 at $16.00source

How much of my pay can an income execution take in New York?

New York calls a wage garnishment an income execution. Under CPLR 5231, it can take up to 10% of your gross pay, meaning pay before any deductions. Two limits sit on top of that. It cannot take more than 25% of your disposable earnings (pay after required taxes) and it cannot cut your disposable earnings below 30 times the state or federal minimum wage, whichever is higher.

The Department of Labor state table lists $17.00 an hour for New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester and $16.00 for the rest of the state. That makes the weekly floor $510 or $480.

Gross $1,000 and take home $760 upstate and the most is $100. Gross $650 and take home $540 in Queens and only $30 can be taken.

Medical bills cannot reach your wages

The same section says no amount may be withheld for a judgment from a medical debt lawsuit brought by a licensed hospital or a licensed health care professional. If your income execution comes from a hospital or doctor’s bill, ask where the case started. A judgment like that should not be coming out of your pay at all.

Other debts, like credit cards, personal loans and collection agency judgments, still follow the 10% rule.

You get the income execution before your employer does

The creditor sends the income execution to an enforcement officer. According to LawHelpNY’s wage garnishment page, that is a New York City Marshal in the five boroughs and the county sheriff elsewhere.

The officer must serve you first, within 20 days. You can then pay the installments directly. If you do not pay for 20 days or cannot be found, the execution goes to your employer, who withholds each payday. If you leave that job, the levy stops working unless you are rehired within 90 days.

How to stop wage garnishment in New York

New York does not set one short deadline here. Under CPLR 5231(i), you can ask the court at any time to change an income execution. CPLR 5240 also lets you ask a judge to limit or stop any collection method. The notice on every execution says to act quickly, because money already taken goes toward the judgment.

If your employer is taking more than the law allows, tell payroll and show the math. Common grounds:

• the cut is above 10% of gross pay,
• it leaves you less than $510 or $480 a week,
• the judgment is from a hospital or medical provider.

Call and a garnishment specialist goes through your execution and pay stubs with you.

Can my bank account be frozen in New York?

A creditor can send your bank a restraining notice, but under CPLR 5222 it cannot freeze an amount equal to 240 times the minimum wage. At $17.00 that is $4,080 and at $16.00 it is $3,840. If your whole balance is 90% of that figure or less, the account cannot be restrained at all.

For money above that line, the bank sends you exemption claim forms. CPLR 5222-a gives you 20 days from the postmark to return them, one copy to the bank and one to the creditor’s lawyer.