15 U.S.C. § 1674
Section 1674 · Restriction on discharge from employment by reason of garnishment
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 38 court decisions — leading case Stepanischen v. Merchants Despatch Transportation Corp. (1983)
Most recently applied in 225 W. Va. 699 - Swears v. R.M. Roach & Sons, Inc. (May 2010)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
No employer may discharge any employee by reason of the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness.
Whoever willfully violates subsection (a) of this section shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.