(735 ILCS 5/12-808) (from Ch. 110, par. 12-808)
Sec. 12-808. Duty of employer.
(a) An employer served as herein provided shall pay the
employee the amount of his or her exempt wages.
(b) To the extent of the amount due upon the judgment and costs, the
employer shall hold, subject to order of court, any non-exempt wages due or
which subsequently come due. The judgment or balance due thereon is
a lien on wages due at the time of the service of summons, and such lien
shall continue as to subsequent earnings until the total amount due upon
the judgment and costs is paid, except that such lien on subsequent
earnings shall terminate sooner if the employment relationship is
terminated or if the underlying judgment is vacated or modified.
(b-5) If the employer is a federal agency employer and the creditor is
represented by an attorney, then the employer, upon service of summons and to
the extent of the amount due upon the judgment and costs, shall commence to pay
over to the attorney for the judgment creditor any non-exempt wages due or that
subsequently come due. The attorney for the judgment creditor shall thereafter
hold the deducted wages subject to further order of the court and shall make
answer to the court regarding amounts received from the federal agency
employer. The federal agency employer's periodic payments shall be considered
a sufficient answer to the interrogatories.
(c) Except as provided in subsection (b-5),
the employer shall file, on or before the return date or within the
further time that the court for cause may allow, a written answer under
oath to the interrogatories, setting forth the amount due as wages to
the judgment debtor for the payroll periods ending immediately prior to the service of the summons and a summary of the
computation used to determine the amount of non-exempt wages. Except as
provided in subsection (b-5), the
employer shall mail by first class mail or hand deliver a copy of the
answer to the judgment debtor at the address specified in the affidavit
filed under Section 12-805 of this Act, or at any other address or location
of the judgment debtor known to the employer.
A lien obtained hereunder shall have priority over any subsequent
lien obtained hereunder, except that liens for the support of a spouse
or dependent children shall have priority over all other liens obtained
hereunder. Subsequent summonses shall be effective in the order in which they are served.
(d) The Illinois Supreme Court may by rule allow an employer to file
answers to interrogatories by facsimile transmission.
(e) Pursuant to answer under oath to the interrogatories by the employer,
an order shall be entered compelling the employer to deduct from wages of the
judgment debtor subject to collection under a deduction order an amount which is the lesser of (i) 15% of the gross amount of the wages or (ii) the
amount by which disposable earnings for a week exceed 45 times the Federal
Minimum Hourly Wage prescribed by Section 206(a)(1) of Title 29 of the United
States Code, as amended, in effect at the time the amounts are payable, for
each pay period in which statutory exemptions under Section 12-804 and child
support garnishments, if any, leave funds to be remitted or, under a wage deduction summons served on or after January 1, 2006, the minimum hourly wage prescribed by Section 4 of the Minimum Wage Law, whichever is greater. The order shall
further provide that deducted wages shall be remitted to the creditor or
creditor's attorney on a monthly basis.
(f) If after the entry of a deduction order, the employer ceases to remit funds to the plaintiff pursuant to the order without a lawful excuse (which would terminate the employer's obligation under the deduction order such as the debtor having filed a bankruptcy, the debtor having left employment or the employer having received service of a support order against the judgment debtor having priority over the wage deduction proceedings), the court shall, upon plaintiff's motion, enter a conditional judgment against the employer for the balance due on the judgment. The plaintiff may then issue a Summons After Conditional Judgment. After service of the Summons After Conditional Judgment, the employer may show cause why the conditional judgment, or some portion thereof should not be made a final judgment. If the employer shall fail to respond or show cause why the conditional judgment or some portion thereof should not be
made final, the court shall confirm the conditional judgment and make it final as to the employer plus additional court costs.
(Source: P.A. 94-306, eff. 1-1-06; 95-661, eff. 1-1-08.)
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