Ordered Deductions

Child Support

Child Support Collection Orders

Federal and state laws require NYC Health + Hospitals to implement child support collection orders regarding deductions to be taken from wages of affected NYC Health + Hospitals employees. If NYC Health + Hospitals receives a child support collection order (herein referred to as Order) regarding your wages, the ordered deductions will begin with the next payroll.

NYC Health + Hospitals receives Orders from:

  • Attorneys or Family Courts
    If the Order was initiated by an attorney or Family Court, NYC Health + Hospitals sends the amount deducted from your wages directly to the payee specified in the Order.
  • Children's Services-Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE)
    If the Order was initiated by OCSE, NYC Health + Hospitals sends the amount deducted from your wages to them. OCSE distributes the payment to the recipient. Contact OCSE about the status of a deduction or payment at (888) 208-4485. If an erroneous amount appears to have been deducted from your wages, OCSE will reimburse you upon review and verification of the over-deduction.  If there is an apparent under deduction, contact OCSE to determine which payment(s) have been missed. Once you know the pay dates for which OCSE records show under-deductions, contact your facility’s payroll office to resolve any discrepancy.

Maximum Amount of Child Support Deductions
According to the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) section 5241 and the Consumer Credit Protection Act, the maximum amount that can be withheld for child support is between 50% - 65% of your disposable earnings, depending on your situation. Disposable earnings are your gross earnings minus federal and state withholding taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and regular pension plan deductions, not including pension loan or arrears deductions.

If you have multiple child support deductions, and you believe the total deductions for child support is above the prescribed limit of your disposable earnings, contact your facility’s Payroll Department to make necessary adjustments for future pay periods.

Please note that the adjusted deduction amounts may result in the incurrence of additional interest and may lengthen the arrears deduction period that you will owe on each child support case. You must also contact the Family Court to alert them of any situation in which you are not able to meet the ordered deduction amount in full.

Garnishments

Understanding Garnishments
NYC Health + Hospitals receives income executions against NYC Health + Hospitals employees from the City Marshals and the City's Office of the Sheriff. If NYC Health + Hospitals receives an income execution against you, HHC will have to garnish up to 15% (based on the issued income execution) of your gross wages and forward the deductions to the issuing City Marshal or Sheriff. Deductions will continue until the total garnishment is collected or NYC Health + Hospitals receives instructions from the issuing City Marshal or Sheriff to release or suspend an income execution.

The total garnishment is the principle amount owed plus interest and a poundage fee of 5%. The interest is calculated by the issuing City Marshal or Sheriff from the date listed on the income execution and recomputed every two weeks as long as there is a balance owed. The current interest rate is 9%. In addition, you pay a one-time fee for income executions to the issuing City Marshal or Sheriff.


Disagreeing with the Garnishment
The City Marshals and the Sheriff advise you when your wages are to be garnished. If you disagree with the garnishment, you can file an  Order  to Show Cause with the appropriate court. After receiving instructions based on the Court Order from the City Marshal or Sheriff, NYC Health + Hospitals  will suspend the distribution of your deductions until further instructions are received from the issuing City Marshal or Sheriff. NYC Health + Hospitals acts only on instructions received directly from the City Marshals or Sheriff.

Depending on the outcome of the Show Cause Order Court ruling, the City Marshal or Sheriff may instruct NYC Health + Hospitals to release all the pending deductions to you, or, if the court determines that the garnishment should stay in effect, to distribute your deductions to the issuing City Marshal or Sheriff and deductions will continue until the remainder of the garnishment is paid.

Once HHC receives notice from the City Marshal or Sheriff rescinding the income execution, NYC Health + Hospitals will refund to you any of the monies it has garnisheed that have not yet been forwarded to the City Marshal or Sheriff. If you are also due a refund of monies that have already been sent to the City Marshal or Sheriff, we will issue the refund to you as soon as the monies have been returned to us by the City Marshal or Sheriff. You should contact the City Marshal or Sheriff directly regarding if/when the monies have been returned to NYC Health + Hospitals and then follow up with your facility’s Payroll Department regarding the refund from NYC Health + Hospitals.

Record of Garnishments
The amount deducted for the garnishment is indicated on your pay stub. Your pay stubs are the best source of information about a garnishment and can be found on Employee Self Service; keep them for your records.

IRS Tax Levies

Understanding Tax Levies
A tax levy, under United States Federal law, is an administrative action by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to seize property or wages to satisfy a tax liability. If the IRS places a levy on your wages, they will notify you and NYC Health + Hospitals Corporate Payroll Operations (CPO). Once CPO receives the notice of tax levy, they will forward a courtesy copy of the levy to your address on file with HHC, along with a notice stating the payroll on which the deduction for the IRS levy will begin.

The IRS notice of levy advises you to:
- Contact the IRS to resolve the issue and obtain a Release of Levy or make an agreement for payroll deduction (IRS Form 2159)
- Complete Parts 3 and 4 of the levy.
Return all applicable completed documents to your facility’s Payroll Department, who will forward it to CPO for implementation.

Collection Process and Initial Deduction Determination
Levy deductions will start with the next payroll unless CPO receives a Release of Levy before the close of input for the next payroll cycle. Levy deduction determinations will be made as follows:


a) If no IRS Payroll Deduction Agreement or no completed IRS Statement of Exemptions and Filing Status (parts 3 and 4 of the levy) is returned to CPO: Your entire net pay, less the applicable allowance to be issued to you based on the IRS table, will be forwarded to the IRS. The applicable allowance will be determined from the IRS table using a default filing status of single with one withholding allowance.

b) If no IRS Payroll Deduction Agreement is returned to CPO but a completed IRS Statement of Exemptions and Filing Status (parts 3 and 4 of the levy) is received: Your entire net pay, less the applicable allowance to be issued to you based on the IRS table, will be forwarded to the IRS. The applicable allowance will be determined from the IRS table using the pay schedule, filing status and number of withholding allowance provided by you on the IRS Statement of Exemptions and Filing Status.

c) If a properly executed IRS Payroll Deduction Agreement (IRS Form 2159) is received by CPO, the specified levy deduction amount will be deducted from your wages and forwarded to the IRS.
The deductions from your wages will continue each payroll until HHC receives a Release of Levy from the IRS

Release of Levy
If you are able to resolve your tax liability issue with the IRS, a Release of Levy is issued. You should deliver or fax the release to CPO as soon as possible. The IRS may also fax the release directly to CPO. CPO’s fax number is (646)458-2721. Upon receipt of a Release of Levy, CPO will stop the levy deductions and refund to you any monies that have not yet been forwarded to the IRS in satisfaction of the levy. Payroll Deduction Agreement If you make a deduction agreement with the IRS, a Payroll Deduction Agreement (IRS Form 2159) is issued, which you must deliver to CPO. Upon receipt of the properly executed Payroll Deduction Agreement, the indicated payroll deductions will begin on the next available payroll and will remain in effect until CPO receives notice from the IRS amending the agreement or releasing the levy.