Here is some information about garnishing wages in Illinois:

The Illinois’ Code of Civil Procedure relating to wage garnishments was amended by the Illinois Legislature. The amendment, effective January 1, 2006, provides that for wage deductions, the amount of wages that may be applied toward a judgment is limited to the lesser of:
1. 15% of gross weekly wages, or
2. the amount by which disposable earnings for the week exceed the greater of 45 times the federal hourly wage or, under a wage deduction summons, the minimum hourly wage prescribed by the Minimum Wage Law (emphasis added to point out the change in the law—the Minimum Wage Law referred to is Illinois’ legislation).
The following examples illustrate the impact of the change: The ABC Printing Company recently received three wage garnishments for three different employees.
Employee A has gross weekly earnings of $750.00 and disposable weekly earnings (DWE) is calculated as $625.00
1. 15% of $750 = $112.50 deduction
2. a. (DWE = $625) – (45 X Federal Minimum Wage or $231.75) = 393.25 deduction;
b. (DWE = $625) – (45 X Illinois Minimum Wage or $292.50) = $332.50 deduction.
Garnishment amount is $112.50 (calculation #1)
Employee B has gross weekly earnings of $260.00 and DWE is calculated as $200.00
1. 15% of $260 = $30 deduction
2. a. (DWE = $200) – (45 X Federal Minimum Wage or $231.75) = $00.00 deduction;
b. (DWE = $200) – (45 X Illinois Minimum Wage or $292.50) = $00.00 deduction.
Garnishment amount is $00.00 (calculation #2a or 2b—they are the same amount)
Employee C has gross weekly earnings of $350.00 and DWE is calculated as $300.00
1. 15% of $350 = $52.50 deduction
2. a. (DWE = $300) – (45 X Federal Minimum Wage or $231.75) = $68.25 deduction;
b. (DWE = $300) – (45 X Illinois Minimum Wage or $292.50) = $7.50 deduction.
Garnishment amount is $7.50 (calculation #2b)
In all cases, the garnishment amount is the least amount of the three calculations.

Clarification on Effective Date
The new withholding calculations apply only to wage deduction summons (wage garnishments) that are served on or after January 1, 2006. If you are currently withholding from an employee’s paycheck for a wage garnishment that was served on or before December 31, 2005, the ‘old’ calculation rules that you have been following remain in effect.