Wage Assignment with Agency Arrearage Information

Often, employees must use wage attachments to pay their child support or maintenance payments because their payments are late or are in arrears. In these cases, the court might require that, in addition to withholding amounts for current payments, you must deduct payments for the amount in arrears. In the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Payroll system, this amount is called the agency arrearage.

When an employee is ordered to pay an arrearage amount but does not have an ongoing wage assignment, you enter a garnishment to deduct the arrearage payments.

When an employee has an ongoing wage assignment as well as an agency arrearage, you can:

Action	Description
Enter two wage attachments	Enter these wage attachments: A wage assignment that calculates and tracks the current wage assignment payments only A garnishment that tracks payments on the arrearage
Enter one wage attachment	Enter a wage assignment that calculates and tracks both the ongoing payments and the arrearage payments

How you enter arrearage information for an employee depends on the organization's historical reporting needs and the requirements of the court.

When you enter two wage attachments, the system stores a separate wage attachment history for each one. You can review the amount that the employee paid in arrearage payments and the amount that is paid in current wage assignment payments. When you enter a single wage attachment to track current payments as well as arrearage payments, the system stores only the combined history for both amounts. When you enter a single wage attachment, you have more flexibility in calculating arrearage payments.

Depending on the court requirements and the employee's situation, you can set up wage assignments in any of these four ways:

Action	Description
Combined amounts	Use this setup when the court specifies a combined amount, which includes the ongoing support payments and the arrearage payments, for a specific number of periods. The system includes the arrearage payments with the ongoing wage assignment payments until the total amount in arrearage is paid. The ongoing wage assignment continues after the arrearage is paid.
Separate amounts	Use this setup when the court specifies two amounts, one for the arrearage payment and the other for the ongoing wage assignment, to be deducted for a specific number of pay periods. The ongoing wage assignment continues after the arrearage is paid. You enter a separate arrearage amount, the total of which is paid in the number of periods that you specify.
Variable wages	Use this setup when an employee's wages vary from one pay period to the next and the arrearage amount varies with the wages. Typically, this setup applies either to employees who earn a commission or to employees who are paid an hourly rate and work a different number of hours each pay period. The system compares a monetary amount to a percentage of the employee's disposable wages. The greater of these amounts is the current payment. The difference between these amounts is the agency arrearage payment.
Minimum wage	Use this setup when the court allows the employee to take home a minimum net pay amount. You enter a minimum net pay amount for the employee. The difference between this amount and the employee's disposable wages is the agency arrearage payment.