Under the federal Family Support Act of 1988, all new or modified child support orders include an automatic wage withholding order. This wage withholding requirement does not apply to alimony-only orders, but does apply to combined alimony and child-support orders. Employers can be held liable for failing to comply with a child support order.
When you modified your child support order, you were required to pay support in the newly-determined amount. To ensure that this order will be enforced, your employer was sent a copy of the new order, and will make the appropriate amount of withholding and send it to your former spouse. This will be done on your behalf for your current child support order, and if there are any arrearages, those will be deducted as well, according to a formula based upon your current income and other withholding.
In court orders for child support or alimony, up to 50 percent of an employee's disposable earnings may be garnished if the employee is supporting a current spouse or child, and up to 60 percent if the employee is not doing so. An additional five percent may be garnished for support payments over 12 weeks past due.
Employees can opt out of required withholding if both the employee and his or her former spouse agree. However, even if you have opted-out, your employer may be required to start withholding if you do not make the agreed payments on time. A majority of required child support payments are now made this way (as the law has been in effect since 1994), so it should not present a problem with your employer or payroll service, who is most likely already familiar with the law's requirements after complying with withholding requirements for other employees. Under the laws of most states, your employer cannot discriminate against you (by firing you, disciplining you, or refusing to hire you) because you have a child support wage withholding order.
If you still have questions about your state's laws relating to child support withholding, then you may wish to contact the agency in your state which handles wage and hour/labor standards violations, listed on our site's state government agencies page, or an attorney familiar with this area of the law.