If you run a business long enough, sooner or later you may get a Wage Garnishment Summons for one of your employees. It usually looks intimidating — lots of legal language, court deadlines, and warnings — but the process is actually straightforward once you know what to do.

Here's a simple, step-by-step guide written specifically for Virginia small business owners so you can handle a garnishment properly and avoid costly mistakes.

✅ What Is a Wage Garnishment?

A creditor won a judgment against your employee. Now the court is ordering you — the employer — to withhold part of that employee's paycheck and send it toward the debt.

When you receive the garnishment paperwork, you are called the “garnishee.”

Once you're served, you must follow the garnishment order. If you ignore it, the court can actually hold your business responsible for the full debt — which is exactly why compliance matters.

✅ Step-by-Step: What Employers Must Do

1. Start Withholding Money as Soon as You're Served

When the summons arrives, withholding does not wait until the return date.

Under Virginia law, you must begin withholding from the employee's very next paycheck after being served.

2. Figure Out How Much to Withhold

Virginia and federal law limit how much of someone's wages can be taken.

For each pay period, you withhold the lesser of:

✔ 25% of disposable earnings (after taxes and mandatory deductions), OR

✔ The amount their take-home pay exceeds the protected minimum threshold

“Disposable earnings” = paycheck after taxes and mandatory withholdings — not including retirement contributions, insurance, or other voluntary deductions.

If the employee earns below the exempt threshold for that pay cycle, you withhold nothing.

3. Continue Payroll Normally

You continue paying the employee as usual — just minus the withheld amount.

This continues until the return date on the summons (typically up to 180 days for wage garnishments in Virginia).

4. Send Payments to the Court

This is a common mistake:

✅ You pay the court — not the creditor, not the employee, not a law firm.

The garnishment summons lists the court's address and instructions. Payments are made payable to the judgment creditor, but delivered to the Clerk of Court.

5. Complete the Garnishee's Answer Form

Attached to every Virginia garnishment summons is a form called the Garnishee's Answer.

You must submit this to the court by the return date.

It tells the court whether the employee works for you and how much was withheld.

If the employee quits before the return date, you still file the Answer — just report the termination.

6. Stop Withholding After the Return Date

Once the return/hearing date arrives:

✅ You stop withholding

✅ You send in the check for what you withheld

✅ You file the Garnishee's Answer

✅ The court processes it

If the creditor wants more money, they would have to issue a brand-new garnishment.

✅ Special Situations Business Owners Face

✅ What Happens If a Business Ignores a Garnishment?

The court can enter a judgment against the employer for the full balance of the employee's debt.

It's rare — but only because most employers comply.

Ignoring, delaying, or sending payments to the wrong place can be expensive.

✅ Final Takeaway for Business Owners

Wage garnishments can look confusing, but they're manageable when you know the rules:

✔ Start withholding immediately

✔ Use the legal formulas to calculate the amount

✔ Send payments to the court

✔ File the Garnishee's Answer by the return date

✔ Stop withholding when the garnishment ends

Following these steps protects your business, keeps you compliant, and removes the stress from a process many employers find intimidating at first.