Peace Corps Associate General Counsel, 1990 K Street, NW., Room 8300, Washington, DC 20526, (202) 606-3114 Resolution Trust Corporation Payroll Specialist/Paralegal Specialist, 1717 H Street, NW., Washington, DC 20434, (202) 736-3095 Securities and Exchange Commission Personnel Management Specialist, Office of Administrative & Personnel Management, 450 5th Street, NW. (Stop 2-3), Washington, DC 20549 Small Business Administration Chief, Personnel/Payroll Systems Branch or Payroll Analyst, 409 3rd Street, SW., Suite 4200, Washington, DC 20416, (202) 205-6148 or (202) 205-6213 III. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service will cooperate with process servers in the service of process regarding private civil or criminal matters only when service is attempted in person on the subject employee at the employee's place of employment, in accordance with the provisions of 39 CFR 243.2(g). Service of summonses and complaints, in prviate matters, by mail to either the agent or employees at their workstations is not permitted. The Postal Service agent will attempt to facilitate and assist personnel of child support enforcement agencies within the limitations imposed by the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a and relevant Postal regulations. The requester must furnish the name and social security number of the person who is the subject of the inquiry. Manager, Payroll Processing Branch, 1 Federal Drive, Ft. Snelling, MN 55111-9650, (612) 293-6300 [63 FR 14777, Mar. 26, 1998; 63 FR 34777, June 26, 1998; 63 FR 56537, Oct. 22, 1998] 582.301 Suspension of payment. 582.302 Notification of employee-obligor. 582.303 Response to legal process or interrogatories. 582.304 Nonliability for disclosure. 582.305 Honoring legal process. 582.306 Lack of entitlement by the employee-obligor to pay from the agency served with legal process. Subpart D-Consumer Credit Protection Act Restrictions 582.401 Aggregate disposable earnings. 582.402 Maximum garnishment limitations. Subpart E-Implementation by Agencies 582.501 Rules, regulations, and directives by agencies. APPENDIX A TO PART 582-LIST OF AGENTS DESIGNATED TO ACCEPT LEGAL PROCESS AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 5520a; 15 U.S.C. 1673; E.O. 12897 SOURCE: 60 FR 13030, Mar. 10, 1995, unless otherwise noted. Subpart A-Purpose, Definitions, and Exclusions § 582.101 Purpose. Section 5520a of title 5 of the United States Code provides that with certain exceptions set forth in this part, pay from an agency to an employee is subject to legal process in the same manner and to the same extent as if the agency were a private person. The purpose of this part is to implement the objectives of section 5520a as they pertain to each executive agency of the United States Government, except with regard to employees of the United States Postal Service, the Postal Rate Commission, and the General Accounting Office. $582.102 Definitions. In this part-(1) Agency means each agency of the executive branch of the Federal Government, excluding the United States Postal Service, the Postal Rate Commission, and the General Accounting Office; agency does not include the government of the District of Columbia or the territories and possessions of the United States. (Section 5520a(j)(1) of title 5 of the United States Code provides that separate implementing regulations shall be promulgated by the legislative branch and the judicial branch; section 5520a(k) provides that separate implementing regulations shall be promulgated with regard to members of the uniformed services; and Executive Order 12897 provides that separate implementing regulations shall be promulgated with regard to employees of the United States Postal Service. The regulations promulgated for employees of the United States Postal Service also apply to employees of the Postal Rate Commission.) (2) Employee or employee-obligor means an individual who is employed by an agency as defined in this section, including reemployed annuitants and retired members of the uniformed services who are employed by an agency. Employee does not include a retired employee, member of the uniformed services, a retired member of the uniformed services, or an individual whose service is based on a contract, including individuals who provide personal services based on a contract with an agency. (3) Legal process means any writ, order, summons, or other similar process in the nature of garnishment, which may include an attachment, writ of execution, court ordered wage assignment, or tax levy from a State or local government, which (i) Is issued by: (A) A court of competent jurisdiction, including Indian tribal courts, within any State, territory, or possession of the United States, or the District of Columbia. As stated in § 582.101, pay is subject to legal process in the same manner and to the same extent as if the agency were a private person. There is, therefore, no requirement in this part that, for example, legal process be signed by a Judge; or. (B) An authorized official pursuant to an order of a court of competent juris diction or pursuant to State or local law; or (C) A State agency authorized to issue income withholding notices pursuant to State or local law; and (ii) Orders an agency to withhold an amount from the pay of an employeeobligor and to make a payment of such withholding to a person, for a specifically described satisfaction of a legal debt of the employee-obligor, or recovery of attorney fees, interest, or court costs; (4) Person may include an individual, partnership, corporation, association, joint venture, private organization or other legal entity, and includes the plural of that term; person may include any of the entities that may issue legal process as set forth in § 582.102(3)(i) (A), (B), and (C), and a State or local government as well as a foreign entity or a foreign governmental unit, but does not include the United States or an agency of the United States. (5) In conformance with 5 U.S.C. 5520a, pay means basic pay; premium pay paid under chapter 55, subchapter V, of title 5 of the United States Code: any payment received under chapter 55, subchapters VI, VII, and VIII, of title 5 of the United States Code; severance pay and back pay under chapter 55, subchapter IX, of title 5 of the United States Code; sick pay, and any other paid leave; incentive pay; locality pay (including special pay adjustments for law enforcement officers and localitybased comparability payments); back pay awards; and any other compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether such compensation is denominated as pay, wages, salary, lumpsum leave payments, commission, bonus, award, or otherwise; but does not include amounts received under any Federal program for compensation for work injuries; awards for making suggestions, reimbursement for expenses incurred by an individual in connection with employment, or allowances in lieu of thereof as determined by the employing agency. [60 FR 13030, Mar. 10 1995, as amended at 61 FR 3544, Feb. 1, 1996] § 582.103 Exclusions. In determining the amount of pay subject to garnishment under this part, there shall be excluded amounts which: (a) Are owed by the employee-obligor to the United States; (b) Are required by law to be deducted from the employee-obligor's pay, including, but not limited to amounts deducted in compliance with the Federal Insurance and Contributions Act (FICA), including amounts deducted for Medicare and for Old Age, Survivor, and Disability Insurance (OASDI); (c) Are properly withheld for Federal, State, or local income tax purposes, if the withholding of the amounts is authorized or required by law and if amounts withheld are not greater than would be the case if the employee-obligor claimed all dependents to which the employee-obligor were entitled. The withholding of additional amounts pursuant to section 3402(i) of title 26 of the United States Code may be permitted only when the employee-obligor presents evidence of a tax obligation which supports the additional withholding; (d) Are deducted as health insurance premiums; (e) Are deducted as normal retirement contributions, not including amounts deducted for supplementary coverage. For purposes of this section, all amounts contributed under sections 8351 and 8432(a) of title 5 of the United States Code to the Thrift Savings Fund are deemed to be normal retirement contributions. Except as provided in this paragraph, amounts voluntarily contributed toward additional retirement benefits are considered to be supplementary; (f) Are deducted as normal life insurance premiums from salary or other remuneration for employment, not including amounts deducted for supplementary coverage. Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance premiums for "Basic Life" coverage are considered to be normal life insurance premiums; all optional Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance premiums and any life insurance premiums paid for by allotment are considered to be supplementary. (g) Amounts withheld in compliance with legal process based on child support and/or alimony indebtedness are not exclusions. Subpart B-Service of Legal Process § 582.201 Agent to receive process. (a) Except as provided in appendix A to this part, appendix A to 5 CFR part 581 lists agents designated to accept service of process under part 581 and this part. (b) United States Attorneys are not considered appropriate agents to accept service of process. § 582.202 Service of legal process. (a) A person using this part shall serve interrogatories and legal process on the agent to receive process as explained in §582.201. Where the legal process is directed to an agency, and the purpose of the legal process is to compel an agency to garnish an employee's pay, the legal process need not expressly name the agency as a garnishee. (b) Service of legal process may be accomplished by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, or by personal service only upon the agent to receive process as explained in §582.201, or if no agent has been designated, then upon the head of the employee-obligor's employing agency. The designated agent shall note the date and time of receipt on the legal process. (c) Parties bringing garnishment actions shall comply with the service of process provisions in this section. Service will not be effective where parties fail to comply with the service of process provisions of this section, notwithstanding whether the person bringing the garnishment action has complied with the service of process requirements of the jurisdiction issuing the legal process. § 582.203 Information minimally required to accompany legal process. (a) Sufficient identifying information must accompany the legal process in order to enable processing by the agency. Parties seeking garnishment actions, therefore, should provide as many of the following identifying pieces of information concerning the employee-obligor as possible: (1) Full name; (2) Date of birth; (3) Employment number or social security number; (4) Component of the agency for which the employee-obligor works; (5) Official duty station or worksite; and (6) Home address or current mailing address. (b) If the information submitted is not sufficient to identify the employeeobligor, the legal process shall be returned directly to the court, or other authority, with an explanation of the deficiency. However, prior to returning the legal process, if there is sufficient time prior to the time limits imposed in § 582.303, an attempt should be made to inform the person who caused the legal process to be served, or the person's representative, that it will not be honored unless adequate identifying information is supplied. § 582.204 Electronic disbursement. The party designated to receive the garnished funds may forward a written request to the garnishing agency to have the funds remitted by electronic funds transfer, rather than by paper check. The request shall include the designated party's name, address, and deposit account number, and the name, address, and 9-digit routing transit number of the designated party's financial institution. Written requests accompanying service of process will be honored beginning with the first remission of garnished funds. Written requests received by the agency subsequent to service of process will be honored in as timely a manner as the agency deems feasible. Subpart C-Compliance With $582.301 Suspension of payment. Upon proper service of legal process as specified in §§ 582.202 and 582.203, the agency shall suspend, i.e., withhold, payment of such moneys for the amount necessary to permit compliance with the legal process in accordance with this part. § 582.302 Notification of employee-obligor. (a) As soon as possible, but not later than 15 calendar days after the date of valid service of legal process, the agent designated to accept legal process shall send to the employee-obligor, at his or her duty station or last known home address, written notice that such process has been served, including a copy of the legal process; (b) The agency may provide the employee-obligor with the following addi tional information: (1) Copies of any other documents submitted in support of or in addition to the legal process; (2) Notice that the United States does not represent the interests of the employee-obligor in the pending legal proceedings; and (3) Advice that the employee-obligor may wish to consult legal counsel regarding defenses to the legal process that he or she may wish to assert. $582.303 Response to legal process or interrogatories. (a) Whenever the designated agent is validly served with legal process, the agent shall respond within 30 calendar days after receipt, or within such longer period as may be prescribed by applicable State or local law. The agent shall also respond within this time period to interrogatories which accompany legal process. Notwithstanding State law, an agent need only respond once to legal process. (b) If State or local law authorizes the issuance of interrogatories prior to or after the issuance of legal process, the agent shall respond to the interrogatories within 30 calendar days after being validly served, or within such longer period as may be prescribed by applicable State or local law. § 582.304 Nonliability for disclosure. (a) No agency employee whose duties include responding to interrogatories pursuant to §582.303(b), shall be subject to any disciplinary action or civil or criminal liability or penalty for any disclosure of information made in connection with the carrying out of any duties pertaining directly or indirectly to answering such interrogatories. |