Hoboken Bankruptcy Attorney » Debt Collection http://jenlawyer.com New Jersey bankruptcy lawyer Jennifer Weil represents Chapter 7 bankruptcy clients living in northern New Jersey counties, including Hudson County, Essex County, Bergen County, Passaic County, Union County, Morris County, and Sussex County. Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:00:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Tip income can’t necessarily be garnished in New Jersey http://jenlawyer.com/305/tip-income-cant-necessarily-be-garnished-jersey/ http://jenlawyer.com/305/tip-income-cant-necessarily-be-garnished-jersey/#comments Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:00:52 +0000 jweil http://jenlawyer.com/?p=305
  • New Jersey household median income levels rising soon Image via Wikipedia The picture over there on the right?...
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    The New Jersey Supreme Court decided Big M on July 16, 2010. The issue in the case was whether tips and gratuities are subject to garnishment. As you may recall, a garnishment can happen when a debt collector who has a judgment against you gets a court order to take part of your pay to satisfy the judgment.

    Big M involved a waitress working for Texas Roadhouse Holding, LLC whose wages were being garnished. When her creditor, Big M, got a check for only $4.21 from its $672 wage garnishment, it sued her employer. In the course of deciding the case, the trial court judge determined that tips placed on credit cards are garnishable, but cash tips are not. Then the New Jersey Supreme Court considered the case on appeal.

    Looking at both New Jersey law and the Federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA), the court did not find any law directly speaking to the issue of whether tips were subject to garnishment. So it examined an opinion letter and field operations handbook from the Department of Labor, which enforces the CCPA, and found the opinion that tips, whether paid in cash or charged, are not subject to garnishment. Although the New Jersey Supreme Court is not required to follow a Department of Labor opinion, the court chose to give the opinion consideration and deference.

    Big M, the creditor, argued that all tips should be subject to garnishment because they are taxable income for state and federal tax purposes. The court did not find this argument persuasive because the process of counting and recording tip income and reporting it for tax purposes does not allow the employer to exercise enough control over tip income to make it garnishable. The whole idea behind wage garnishment is to capture the income while it is still in the employer’s hands, before it gets paid to the employee.

    The court held that the amount of control an employer exercises over tip income determines whether those tips are subject to wage garnishment. If the employer pools all the tips and then divides the pooled amount amongst the employees, then tip income could be garnished. But if the tips are generally paid directly to the employee, even if the tips are charged on a credit card, they are not subject to garnishment.

    Photo by respres.

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    ]]>     http://jenlawyer.com/305/tip-income-cant-necessarily-be-garnished-jersey/feed/ 0     Bank of America drops arbitrations for cardholders http://jenlawyer.com/199/bank-of-america-drops-arbitrations-for-cardholders/ http://jenlawyer.com/199/bank-of-america-drops-arbitrations-for-cardholders/#comments Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:00:58 +0000 jweil http://jenlawyer.com/?p=199 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Bank of America recently agreed to drop the requirement that cardholders resolve disputes in arbitration. The bank did this as part of a settlement of a lawsuit in which they were accused of conspiring with other banks to require credit-card holders to arbitrate disputes instead of going to court.

    Other banks are still involved in the lawsuit, which is in Federal Court in New York. These other banks include Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Discover and HSBC. The lawsuit accuses them of violating antitrust laws by requiring cardholders to enter into arbitration for all disputes.

    Many believe that credit card arbitrations are biased in favor of the credit card company.

    Earlier this year, National Arbitration Forum, a large arbitration company, dropped out of the credit-card arbitration business as a result of a lawsuit against it.

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    ]]>     http://jenlawyer.com/199/bank-of-america-drops-arbitrations-for-cardholders/feed/ 0     How to get your creditors to stop harrassing you http://jenlawyer.com/185/how-to-get-your-creditors-to-stop-harrassing-you/ http://jenlawyer.com/185/how-to-get-your-creditors-to-stop-harrassing-you/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:50:42 +0000 jweil http://jenlawyer.com/?p=185
  • What happens at the 341 meeting of creditors? Image by Getty Images via Daylife After you file for...
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    Stop Sign
    Image by ladybeames via Flickr

    One way to get your creditors to stop harassing you is by filing for bankruptcy. But how does filing for bankruptcy stop creditor calls and letters? Through something called the “automatic stay”.

    The automatic stay in bankruptcy can be a powerful benefit for debtors who feel that they are being hounded by creditor phone calls and letters. It can prevent further harassment from debt collectors.

    After a bankruptcy is filed, creditors must stop attempting to collect on debts as a result of the automatic stay, which takes effect just after filing. Practically speaking, you should wait until creditors receive notice of the filing before they know to stop contacting you.

    Or, your lawyer may send out letters of representation to your creditors, which can put a stop to the creditor calls and letters for a while prior to your bankruptcy filing. For example, if the credit card companies are really annoying you, have a talk with your lawyer and see whether letters of representation can be arranged.

    Exactly what does the automatic stay protect the debtor from? Debt collection calls, wage garnishment, lawsuits, foreclosure sales, and repossessions.

    What types of actions are NOT stayed? Actions regarding family support, such as child support or alimony; criminal prosecutions; and tax assessments or audits.

    How long does the automatic stay last? Until the debtor’s bankruptcy discharge comes through or until a creditor asks a judge and successfully gets the automatic stay lifted.

    What happens when a creditor violates the automatic stay? Then that creditor may be subject to civil penalties, such as the payment of damages.

    If you have a question about bankruptcy, feel free to contact the Hoboken Bankruptcy Attorney at 201-676-0722 or at jweil@jenlawyer.com.

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