[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR531.39]

[Page 170-171]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 531_WAGE PAYMENTS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938
--Table of Contents
 
                        Subpart C_Interpretations
 
Sec. 531.39  Payments to third persons pursuant to court order.

    (a) Where an employer is legally obliged, as by order of a court of 
competent and appropriate jurisdiction, to pay a sum for the benefit or 
credit of the employee to a creditor of the employee, trustee, or other 
third party, under garnishment, wage attachment, trustee process, or 
bankruptcy proceeding, deduction from wages of the actual sum so paid is 
not prohibited: Provided, That neither the employer nor any person 
acting in his behalf or interest derives any profit or benefit from the 
transaction. In such case, payment to the third person for the benefit 
and credit of the employee will be considered equivalent, for the 
purposes of the Act, to payment to the employee.
    (b) The amount of any individual's earnings withheld by means of any 
legal or equitable procedure for the payment of any debt may not exceed 
the restriction imposed by section

[[Page 171]]

303(a), title III, Restriction on Garnishment, of the Consumer Credit 
Protection Act (82 Stat. 163, 164; 15 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.). The 
application of title III is discussed in part 870 of this chapter. When 
the payment to a third person of moneys withheld pursuant to a court 
order under which the withholdings exceeds that permitted by the CCPA, 
the excess will not be considered equivalent to payment of wages to the 
employee for purpose of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

[35 FR 10757, July 2, 1970]