STPS

How is an FOC different from a Garnishment?

Are you currently having a FOC or a garnishment withheld from your wages? These two Court Orders are similar but there are some things that you should know that set them apart. In this article, you will get a better understanding of the differences and how they work. 

What is a FOC?

The FOC (Friend of the Court) is child support and is always done through a court order. This is financial support bring sent to the Custodial Parent. If you don’t pay child support, the FOC can issue a warrant for your arrest. A FOC has a given dollar amount depending on your frequency of pay. There is a maximum percentage allowed but for payroll purposes, it will show us how much you will be paying every pay period. The FOC can take up to 50% of your gross pay for child support if your normal payment cannot be paid in full. If you are behind on your payments or have more than one family being supported, then the FOC can take out up to 65% of your net pay. 

What is a garnishment?

Garnishments are civil lawsuits that are ordered when you default on a car loan, medical bills, credit card debt, etc. To be charged for a garnishment, you will first be sued by the car dealership, hospital, or credit card company. Then there would be a trial to make it an official garnishment. Normally your gross wage is garnished by 25%.

For example, if you have a $600 net pay, the garnishment could be up to $150 (25%), but if you have a $100 child support charge, then that number gets put into that max amount of money that they can take out of your gross pay. So, you would need to send $100 to child support. That means that the garnishment would only get $50. If you have $200 in child support, then there wouldn’t be any money collected for the garnishment payment at all. It doesn’t matter whether the garnishment payment or the child support came first, the child support is always the first priority. Once the child support is paid, then whatever garnishment was received first is the first one to get collected. 

If you don’t pay your FOC or garnishments:

If you don’t pay your FOC child support you could be put in jail. For a garnishment, you will get further and further behind on your payments because interest is added if the garnishment is not paid.

If the employer fails to act on the FOC or garnishment order then the employer becomes liable for the money that is due. 

For example: If your employer ignores the FOC order given to you, the FOC will come to the employer and say, “you should have withheld $100 a week for that employee’s child support.” If it was not withheld, then the employer would have to pay the fee.

If it’s a garnishment, the employee might have been sued for having a $40,000 debt on their credit card, the employer would then have to pick up that amount. This is bad for the employer but great for debt collectors because they know that it is easier to get the debt garnishment money from the employer, not the employee. 

As soon as a garnishment is received for an employee, the employer should contact the payroll company right away to let them know to take the money out each pay period. This way the employer won’t liable.

If your company has software where the employee or employer would have to enter in their own garnishment or FOC orders, then they need to make sure they enter it correctly or else the money will land on them. 

Bottom Line:

Always make sure you pay your child support and garnishments. If you don’t pay your FOC child support you could be put in jail. If you don’t pay your garnishments, you will just get further and further behind on your payments because of the accrued interest. FOC and garnishments are difficult but if you don’t pay them that can have a large effect on your life. 

Written by Tessa Braybrook

Tessa joined Superior Trucking Payroll Service in September 2022. She loves to write and make videos which made her a great asset to the team in her marketing position. 

Before working at Superior Trucking Payroll Service she worked in IT at GVSU which gave her the skills to problem-solve with customers over the phone.

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