Chapter 4: Statutory and Non-Statutory Deductions
4.6 Court-Ordered Wage Garnishment
4.6.1 Enforcement of Court Orders
If an employee owes money to a creditor and the creditor obtains a court order against the employee requiring the employee to pay the owed amount(s), then the court order may be enforced against the employee through garnishment of wages.
Court orders are enforceable; this means that the court has options to ensure that the terms of the court order are met. One of those options is garnishment of employment earnings. When an employee’s earnings are being garnished, the employer must pay a portion of the employee’s earnings to the court. The creditor of the court order will then have a process to follow in order to be paid.
Each jurisdiction in Canada will have amounts that are exempt from garnishment so the employee has some funds to support themselves. In Alberta, the basic exemption amount is $800. Employers who must garnish wages according to the terms of a court order (in Alberta, employers will be provided with a document called a “garnishee summons”) will have to calculate the exemption amount for the employee in question and follow the terms of the court order. You can see the garnishee worksheet for Alberta employers here: Garnishee’s Worksheet for Employment Earnings Garnishee Summons
Payroll should check the exemption amounts and process specific to the applicable jurisdiction for carrying out wage garnishment when required by a court order to do so.
4.6.2 Child and/or Spousal Support Orders
In several Canadian jurisdictions, there is a support payment enforcement process for child and spousal support orders. When an employee is court ordered to make maintenance payments (child support or spousal support payments), the order may include enforcement of that maintenance order through an organization that collects maintenance payments and pays them to the applicable recipient.
Maintenance payments, depending on the jurisdiction, may be paid to a specialized organization that enforces maintenance orders. In Ontario, the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) routinely issues support deduction notices to employers, who must deduct and remit the amount of the support payment, up to a maximum of 50% of the employee’s net income (Government of Ontario, 2020). In Alberta, the Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) may issue a support deduction notice if the employee does not make their support payments to the MEP in accordance with the terms of the court order or if the employee consents to voluntary pay deductions (Government of Alberta, 2024). Employers must deduct and send the amount of support ordered to the MEP, to a maximum of 40% of the employee’s gross earnings (Government of Alberta, 2024).
References
Alberta Courts. (n.d.). Garnishee’s worksheet for employment earnings garnishee summons. https://albertacourts.ca/docs/default-source/qb/garnishee-worksheet.pdf?sfvrsn=6d81ac80_2
Government of Alberta. (2024). MEP – Making and receiving payments. https://www.alberta.ca/mep-making-and-receiving-payments.aspx
Government of Ontario. (2020). Deduct support payments from your employee’s earnings. https://www.ontario.ca/page/deduct-support-payments-your-employees-earnings
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