Mandatory Payroll Deductions FAQs

• What is a garnishment?
• What types of garnishments are there and what are they for?
• How much will be deducted from my pay?
• What are “disposable earnings”?
• Can these amounts be modified?
• The IRS has levied my paycheck and I have received a “Statement of Exemption Form”. What should I do with this and why is it important?
• I just received my paycheck and I have a deduction for a garnishment, levy, or court order. I do not know anything about this, what should I do?
• How can I have the garnishment stopped?

What is a garnishment?

A garnishment is a legal order to withhold a specified sum from your wages to satisfy a debt in accordance with the state and federal wage garnishment laws.

What types of garnishments are there and what are they for?

State Levy: Unpaid State Income Taxes due

Federal Levy: Unpaid Federal Income Taxes due

Court Order: Child Support payments and/or arrearages due

Attachment/Garnishment: Unpaid obligations to creditors

Student Loan Levy: Unpaid student loans due

How much will be deducted from my pay?

This will depend on the type of garnishment. Deductions will be determined as follows:

• Federal levies and Court Orders will exempt a pre-determined amount of your net pay from garnishment.
• State levies and attachments/garnishments will be deducted at no more than 25% of your disposable earnings.
• Student Loan levies will be deducted at 10% or 15% of your disposable earnings as noted on the levy. 

What are “disposable earnings”?

Disposable earnings are the gross wages/salary minus all mandatory deductions such as federal withholding taxes, state withholding taxes, Medicare B and Social Security taxes.

Can these amounts be modified?

Yale University can only modify amounts when we are instructed to do so by the issuer of the garnishment, who are the only legal authorities to either modify or release a garnishment.

The IRS has levied my paycheck and I have received a “Statement of Exemption Form”. What should I do with this and why is it important?

It is very important that you complete this form and return it to the Payroll Department immediately. If the Payroll Department does not receive this statement of exemption form from the employee, the default of Married filing separately with one exemption must be used to determine the amount of net pay that is exempt from levy. This may be a lower amount than you are entitled to, based on your completion of this form.

I just received my paycheck and I have a deduction for a garnishment, levy, or court order. I do not know anything about this, what should I do?

You should have been notified of this pending action from the taxing agencies, courts or firms that are the plaintiffs in these orders. If, however, you do not remember who may be garnishing your payments, you may call the Payroll Department at 432-5408 and press the number for “garnishments” on the phone tree.

How can I have the garnishment stopped?

The Payroll Department must receive written notice from the authorized agency to change or stop a garnishment. These notices should be sent to:

Yale University Payroll Department

P.O. Box 208356

New Haven, CT 06520-8356

These notices may also be faxed to: (203) 432-6662.