Parties divorce. Husband’s employer is ordered to deduct and pay the child support from Husband’s paychecks. Employer missed two payments. Wife files a petition to have the employer pay a penalty. The statute states that there is a $100 daily penalty for a “knowing” violation. The trial court denied wife’s petition. The court said that “the mistake was not a knowing violation.” Wife appealed.
At the hearing, the employer’s wage garnishment processor testified. She said she believed that she put the “bi-monthly” code in their system. It should have been a “bi-weekly” code. That was the correct payment schedule.
As a result, no withholdings were held on the third paychecks in two different months. The garnishment processor testified that when she realized the problem she corrected the situation. She sent the two additional checks to the State Disbursement Unit within two days.
The garnishment processor testified that she had a procedure in place. It did not involve any discretionary decisions for processing the support payments. She was not just making decisions on her own.
Wife failed to prove that the employer knowingly violated the Withholding Act. Therefore, the employer did not have to pay the $100 per day penalty.
In re Marriage of Solomon, 2015 IL App (1st) 133048.
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