Wage garnishment

Disputing Your Debt
#1

I lost an eviction in California this past year. This happened due to a misuse of at will employment laws. I was not able to get a new job right away and had to go through the eviction process.

I sought help from two nonprofits, We Are LA and the Eviction Defense Network. They are both led by lawyers and they failed to have me file motions to introduce new defenses beyond my answer which was hastily put together by the Eviction Defense Network. I lost my case. Not only was I evicted, but the jury gave me a 15k holdover fee.

The landlord has the legal right to garnish my wages and levy my bank account now.

I checked the sheriff’s website. The landlord has recently paid them money and has the sheriff of Torrance a suburb outside of Los Angeles involved as well as the Sheriff of LA.

Torrance is where my employer is, but I am quitting and leaving today for a new company.

I only make 23 an hour. I want to know more about my rights and ways to contend with claims of exemption, hardship and other forms of relief.

#2

I can’t answer what the law(says) is(are) in CA over this, but if you had incompetent legal representation you may be able to sue over that.

I also live in an at will state and had they gotten rid of me one day earlier (2 cancers in one year - they said, in writing no less, they were dumping me because I was too expensive for their insurance - they were self ensured) it would have violated the ADA laws. Because they waited until my contract renewal it was legal. Those laws favor the employer and not the employee and, at least in my state, give the employee almost no legal rights over this.

But I would think not paying your rent has nothing to do with employment laws. Your landlord had nothing to do with your employment problems. I’d suspect you are out of luck (outside of a potential poor legal representation suit) in that respect.

#4

Hi - Under California Code of Civil Procedure section 706.050, someone’s wages can only be garnished by the lesser of either 20% of their weekly disposable earnings or 40% of the amount by which their weekly disposable earnings exceeds 48 times the minimum wage in the city or county they work. (if they are paid biweekly, then it is 96 times the minimum wage). If their wages are LESS than the 48 or 96 times the minimum wage, then their wages will be entirely protected and their employer is required to automatically protect their wages.

If their wages would be garnished but that would cause undue financial hardship - they can file a claim of exemption with the court. https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/make-claim-exemption-wage-garnishment. They can use the following online tool Create a Claim of Exemption