wage attachment need help

[catwhisperer]

THe saga goes on. My husband is a real estate agent. He was working for a broker and changed brokers. He sold a house from the old broker. We had car repairs done by the exbroker's husband's business. She withheld a car repair bill from the recent commission check. I know she cannot do this because Pennsylvania has a no wage attachment rule. Anyone know how I should approach this. First of all, she cannot withhold money for an unrelated business? She cannot attach wages. we were including the husband's bill on our bankruptcy. We needed the commission to match the deposit.

[djk]

if you have filed the petition, the witholding would be a violation of the automatic stay since it is a collection of a debt during the period of the stay. if you have not filed the petition, my question would be how did the ex-broker know that the repair bill was to be included in the bankruptcy? another issue is if a commission is a wage, I'm not sure. but a comission may be completely outside of wage laws.

[catwhisperer]

No, we haven't filed our petition yet. No, they don't know about the bankruptcy. And yes, according to federal rules it appears that commissions are considered wages as far as attachments are considered unless someone knows otherwise. This broker is a real winner - thank GOD he left there! This is only the tip of the iceberg with the antics and possibly illegal stuff this broker has done.

[djk]

from the far side...if your husband had a contract with the ex-broker that comissions would be paid less any outstanding amounts due to the broker AND the ex-broker was a principle in the repair business, then it might be plausible to a court that the deduction was fair. OR, if it is a small town situation then a court might consider the "you owed me certain amount which I deducted from amount I owed you" a plausible arguement i'm just tossing out possible issues to consider.

[catwhisperer]

I looked up the Fair Credit act and they both broke the law. He (the spouse of the broker) is not allowed to contact anyone else to collect a debt. She broke PA Dept of Labor laws by illegally attaching his wages. We'd let it drop but (a) the auto repair job was absolutely horrible), (b) she has a habit of bullying and ripping off people (c) this could have an impact on our pending bankruptcy because we favorably paid someone, we now have no receipt of paying the amount, the list goes on. Her broker license could now be in serious jeopardy if any judgment is listed against her. Very sticky situation. It's like someone has to stop them from really sticking it to people and getting away with it all the time.

[Minnymouth]

You might contact the local labor board and let them know she withheld wages for another companies debt which she wasn't authorized to do..... since garnishment is not allowed in your state....

File a formal complaint with the Labor board...... she don't want them checking into her affairs, I'm sure.....

And you could file a small claims against them in District Court......

[catwhisperer]

UPDATE - just found out that the check was made payable to the new broker so it is now double jeopardy for the exbroker - withholding wages/commissions, withholding payment to another broker. Still trying to do her own garnishment - she says she will give the check to the new broker when we pay her husband. Wonder if she knows the Dept of Labor trouble she can be in?

[djk]

I'm confused. Why is the ex-broker sending payment to the new broker?
Is the new broker due a cut of the total amount? cause as I'm reading it now
it seems that this issue is between the ex-broker and the new broker with your husband as a third party. I'd think the new broker would want full payment from the ex-broker regardless of any amounts your husband may owe the ex-brokers husband. I'd also think that since your husbands sale seems to be being handled between the two brokers that the current broker owes your husband the amount due regardless of what the ex-broker sends the current broker. Of course if the new broker is being included in the situation by the ex-broker due to some craziness then it still all boils down to collections and how you plan to go about it.

[catwhisperer]

welcome to the world of real estate. The exbroker is apparently correct. Since my husband is now working for another broker, she had to issue the check to the new one - which I think is really bizarre. You are correct - the exbroker owes the money to the new broker which gives us more reason to believe that she better pay up. Our car is up for inspection in July and if it doesn't pass because of the brake job the exbroker's husband did you better believe they won't see the balance due! I don't think the exbroker is going to play this game too long - still Dept of Labor nonpayment issues going on - she is using typical debt collector tactics but doesn't have a leg to stand on because of breaking DOL laws.

[djk]

I'm into territory I'm not sure about but if I read you correctly then it seems to me that your husband is due the money from the new broker regardless of what the ex-broker sent or else the new broker is acting as a proxy in the attempt to collect money due the ex-brokers husband. in other words the new broker, unless your husband soon receives the full amount from the new broker, has become part of a conspiracy (I know, sounds bad, but could not think of a different word) to withhold the full amount due your husband. Still, who do you approach to collect the full amount due?