Garnishments for employees are entered in the HR record of the employee in the People feature, in the Payroll > Garnishments screen.
Creating garnishments for Canadian employees involves configuring settings in the Order Details section of the garnishment entry, for example, the order number and associated dates. You also configure how the application calculates the garnishments, including any limits and subsistence rules. The following screenshot illustrates the Order Details section for a Canadian garnishment entry:
Each of the fields in the screenshot are described as follows:
Order Number
Enter the number of the garnishment order. You can find the case number on the paper or electronic copy of the garnishment order.
The application validates that each order number for the employee's garnishment orders is unique across all active garnishments for the employee.
Priority Number
(Optional) You can enter a number to override the default priority order that the application uses to process this garnishment in relation to other garnishments that the employee is assigned.
By default, all garnishments are considered to have a sequence value of zero and garnishments are prioritized according to the court order received date and the rules established by taxing authorities.
For example, an employee has a family order already existing and they receive a federal requirement to pay order. The federal order would need to be taken first then the family order. To support this, you can enter 1 in the Priority Number field for federal order garnishment, and enter 2 in the Priority Number field of family order garnishment.
Court Order Date
Enter the date on which the garnishment was court ordered. You can find this date on the paper or electronic copy of the garnishment order.
Court Order Received Date
Enter the date that your organization received the garnishment order. When you save the garnishment, the application validates that this date isn’t before the date in the Court Order Date field.
Ordered Amount Type
Select one of the predefined amount types to define how the application calculates the garnishment. The amount types are as follows; click each link to view more details:
- Ordered Amount Types: % of Gross Less Statutory Ded Split Over Multiple Garnishments (Quebec Only)
- Ordered Amount Types: % of Gross Less Statutory Deductions
- Ordered Amount Types: % of Gross Less Statutory Deductions and Union Dues
- Ordered Amount Types: % of Gross up to Provincial Max
- Ordered Amount Types: % of Seizable Income (Quebec Only)
- 100% of Net Pay
- Difference Between Disposable Net and Exemption Entered
- Ordered Amount Types: Straight Dollar Amount
Depending on the option you select, the application displays the Ordered Percent or Ordered Amount field, or neither.
Ordered Amount
The application only displays this field if you select the Straight Dollar Amount option in the Order Amount Type drop-down list.
Enter the amount of the garnishment that the application attempts to deduct from payments.
Ordered Percent
The application only enables this option if you selected one of the % of Gross options from the Order Amount Type drop-down list.
Enter the percent of eligible earnings that the application will use to calculate the garnishment amount and attempt to deduct from payments.
Apply Subsistence Rule
This is a mandatory drop-down list in which you must select an option to configure whether, and how, Dayforce applies a minimum subsistence rule. Not all garnishments use a subsistence rule. The garnishment order will determine whether a subsistence rule is to be used and what it will be.
There are several options in the Apply Subsistence Rules drop-down list:
- Apply Minimum Subsistence Rules: Select this option, and Dayforce applies the minimum subsistence rules for the issuing province or territory for which the garnishment is ordered, based on the garnishment type. This also makes the Minimum Subsistence Rule drop-down list editable. The options available for you to select are filtered based on the issuing province and the type of garnishment.
- Do Not Apply Minimum Subsistence Rules: Select this option, and Dayforce does not apply any minimum subsistence rule.
- For Monthly Target Don't Apply Minimum Subsistence Rules: Select this option, and Dayforce does not apply minimum subsistence rules for monthly targets.
- Override the Minimum Subsistence Amount: Select this option to make the Override Subsistence Amount field becomes editable, where you can enter an amount that Dayforce can override.
Minimum Subsistence Rule
This drop-down list can be edited only if you select Apply Minimum Subsistence Rule in the Apply Subsistence Rule drop-down list.
Select the option that the application uses to protect a certain amount of the employee's earnings. The options displayed depend on the issuing province of the garnishment and its type.
Override Subsistence Amount
The application only makes this drop-down editable if you select Override the Minimum Subsistence Amount in the Apply Subsistence Rule drop-down list.
Enter an amount in this field to specify the dollar amount of gross earnings that is protected from being garnished.
For example, you add a family garnishment with an issuing province of Ontario for an employee. In the Order Details section of the garnishment, you define the following:
- Ordered Amount Type: % of Gross less Statutory Deductions
- Ordered Percent: 30
- Apply Subsistence Rule: Override the Minimum Subsistence Amount
- Override Subsistence Amount: 1,400
In the current pay run, the employee has gross earnings of $2,400, and taxes (CPP, EI, and Fed Tax) totaling $598.59.
The application determines the amount that is subject to garnishment by subtracting the statutory deductions ($598.59) and override minimum subsistence amount ($1,400) from gross pay ($2,400) to get $401.41. Because this amount is lower than 30% of gross earnings minus statutory deductions, the application can only deduct $401.41 from the payment.
Pay Period Limit
Canada only. This field is used to set a garnishment amount limit for a pay period.
Monthly Limit
Canada only. This field is used to set a monthly garnishment amount limit.
Lifetime Limit
Canada only. This field is used to set a lifetime limit for the garnishment amount. If you enter an amount in the Lifetime Limit field, the fields in the Additional Details section are updated.
Override First Month Target Amount
If you have set an amount in the Pay Period Limit or Monthly Limit field, you can override the monthly limit for the first month the employee's pay is garnished by entering a limit in the Override First Month Target Amount field. Dayforce uses this limit for the first month only and then uses any limit amounts you set in the Pay Period Limit or Monthly Limit field. Dayforce only enforces the limit in the Override First Month Target Amount field if you have set a limit in the Pay Period Limit or Monthly Limit field.
For example, you enter 200 in the Override First Month Target Amount field and 250 in the Limit Amount. As a result, for the first month that the garnishment is active, the application enforces a limit of $200 and on subsequent months enforces a limit of $250.
Include Reimbursement
Select this checkbox to include reimbursement earnings in garnishment calculations. This checkbox is cleared by default. Reimbursement earnings are earning codes that have Reimbursement selected in the Earning Type drop-down list in the Add Earning dialog box in Payroll Setup > Earnings and Deductions in the Earnings tab.
For example, leave this checkbox cleared, and if an employee is paid $1,000 in salary and receives $50 in reimbursements, the application only garnishes from the $1,000. If the garnishment is calculated as 10% of their gross pay, the application deducts $100 (10% of $1,000, not $105 or 10% of $1050).
In Payroll Setup > Earnings and Deductions in the Earnings tab, the Options sub-tab for reimbursement earnings includes the Exclude from disposable net checkbox. You can select this checkbox to exclude the earning from deduction calculations.
Important: If you select the Include Reimbursement checkbox in the garnishment record, it overrides the Exclude from disposable net setting for the earning definition, and Dayforce includes that earning in garnishment calculations.
The Additional Details Section
The Additional Details section does not contain editable fields. Instead, the fields are updated by Dayforce if you have entered an amount in the Lifetime Limit amount in the Order Details section of the garnishment entry. This section also displays messages about the parameters for the garnishment type and garnishment authority. If there are no parameters, the message reads "There are not parameters for this garnishment type and authority."
The fields in the Additional Details section are described here:
- Garnishment Balances: Header over the following fields
- Total Amount Withheld: Field that displays the amount of the lifetime limit that has been withheld to date.
- Original Balance: Field that displays the amount entered in the Lifetime Limit field.
- Remaining Balance: Field that displays the amount remaining after subtracting the total amount withheld from the original balance.