Under the Consumer Credit Protection Act, child support wage garnishment is capped at 50% to 65% of your disposable earnings. The exact ceiling depends on two things: whether you currently support another spouse or dependent child, and whether you’re more than 12 weeks behind on the order. The CCPA limits on child support wage garnishment are set by federal law at 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b) and apply to every employer in the country, though a state may set a lower cap that then controls.
What Disposable Earnings Actually Means
The percentage doesn’t apply to your gross pay, and it doesn’t apply to your take-home pay either. It applies to your disposable earnings, which 15 U.S.C. § 1672 defines as what’s left after your employer subtracts amounts it is legally required to withhold. That’s federal, state, and local income taxes and your share of Social Security and Medicare. Nothing else.
This is where people miscalculate. Health insurance premiums, 401(k) contributions, union dues, life insurance, and FSA deductions are voluntary as far as the CCPA is concerned, even if you had no practical choice about signing up. They do not reduce disposable earnings. If your gross pay is $2,000 and mandatory tax withholding comes to $400, disposable earnings are $1,600. The garnishment cap runs against that $1,600, not against whatever hits your bank account.
The Four Caps
The CCPA sorts every worker into one of four tiers based on two questions: do you support another spouse or dependent child (someone not named in this support order), and are you more than 12 weeks in arrears?
- 50% if you support another spouse or dependent child and are current or less than 12 weeks behind.
- 55% if you support another spouse or dependent child and are more than 12 weeks behind.
- 60% if you do not support another spouse or dependent child and are current or less than 12 weeks behind.
- 65% if you do not support another spouse or dependent child and are more than 12 weeks behind.
The 5% bump for arrears is automatic once you cross the 12-week mark. Your employer learns which tier applies from the standardized Income Withholding for Support form, which lists the arrears balance along with the ongoing obligation.
A concrete example: suppose your disposable earnings are $1,000 per pay period, you have no other dependents, and you’re more than 12 weeks behind. Your employer can withhold up to $650 from that check. The same worker with a new spouse and a stepchild would see the cap fall to $550.
No Minimum Wage Floor Applies
For ordinary consumer debts like credit cards or medical bills, the CCPA caps garnishment at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount above 30 times the federal minimum wage ($217.50 per week at $7.25 an hour). Workers earning near that floor are effectively protected from garnishment entirely.
Child support orders bypass that floor. Section 1673(b) says outright that the restrictions of subsection (a), including the minimum wage protection, do not apply to support orders. The percentage caps are the only ceiling. A worker earning barely above minimum wage can still see 50% to 65% withheld for child support, which is part of why these garnishments can be so difficult for low earners.
What Counts as Earnings
The CCPA’s definition of earnings is broader than salary. It covers compensation paid for personal services, which includes bonuses, commissions, severance, and periodic pension or retirement payments. Disability payments from an employment-based plan count too. The Department of Labor asks a simple question: did the employer pay this amount in exchange for the person’s work? If yes, the garnishment limits apply.
Lump sums are their own category. Sign-on bonuses, productivity awards, profit-sharing distributions, retroactive raises, and workers’ compensation wage-replacement payments all qualify as garnishable earnings. Each payment is measured against the cap on its own rather than averaged with other pay. A weekly draw and a separate monthly commission check are treated as two payments, each with its own limit.
Payments not tied to personal services fall outside the definition. Employer-provided educational assistance under IRC § 127 isn’t earnings. For tipped workers, the cash wage plus any tip credit the employer claims counts as earnings, but tips beyond that amount do not.
One important boundary: the CCPA’s caps apply to the employer-employee relationship. If you work as an independent contractor, these percentage limits and the job-protection rule below don’t reach you, and courts can pursue child support from self-employed income through other enforcement tools. Federal benefits like Social Security follow a separate statute (42 U.S.C. § 659) rather than the CCPA tiers.
Employer Fees Count Against Your Cap
Employers must comply with a child support withholding order automatically under 42 U.S.C. § 666(b). No arrears are needed to trigger withholding, and the employer has no discretion to refuse.
Many states let employers charge a small administrative fee per pay period for processing. Federal law doesn’t set the amount; the state where you work does, and fees generally run a few dollars per check. Here’s the part that matters: the fee counts toward the CCPA cap. If your cap is 60% and your employer charges a processing fee, the support withheld plus the fee together cannot exceed 60% of disposable earnings. The fee comes out of what would otherwise reach the child, not out of an amount above the cap.
When State Law Lowers the Cap
The federal percentages are ceilings, not floors. A state can pass a lower cap, and when it does, the state limit controls. The Department of Labor recognizes this through its exemption process under 29 CFR Part 870, which lets a state substitute its own restrictions so long as they cover every situation the federal rule covers and give workers equal or greater protection.
If your state caps child support garnishment at 45% for a worker supporting other dependents rather than the federal 50%, the employer follows the 45%. The relationship runs one way only: states can protect you more than the CCPA, never less. Confirm the applicable limit with your state’s child support enforcement agency or the court that issued the order.
Multiple Orders and Competing Garnishments
The CCPA doesn’t set priority when an employer holds orders for child support, taxes, and consumer judgments against the same worker. Priority comes from state law or other federal statutes, and in practice child support nearly always comes first. If the support order already reaches the CCPA cap, a consumer garnishment simply cannot be enforced until support is satisfied or reduced. The employer cannot stack garnishments past the cap.
When more than one child support order exists for the same worker, 45 CFR § 303.100 requires states to allocate the available amount among the orders so that current support is paid before arrears and each order receives at least a partial payment, all still within the CCPA percentage limit.
Job Protection Has a Gap
The CCPA bars your employer from firing you because your wages are garnished for any one debt. A child support order is one debt no matter how many paychecks it touches or how many years withholding lasts. Multiple orders enforcing the same underlying debt also count as one.
The gap: the shield covers a single debt. Once a second, unrelated garnishment arrives, whether a creditor’s judgment or a student loan default, the federal protection drops away and an employer can legally terminate you. The Wage and Hour Division enforces the one-debt rule, and a willful violation can carry a fine up to $1,000, up to a year of imprisonment, or both, along with reinstatement and back pay.