Massachusetts: Wage Garnishment Limits
The short answer
Massachusetts calls wage garnishment 'trustee process.' An ordinary judgment creditor can take only the amount by which your gross weekly wages exceed the greater of 85% of those gross wages or 50 times the higher of the federal or Massachusetts minimum hourly wage — in practice, no more than 15% of gross pay for most earners, well under the federal 25%-of-disposable-earnings ceiling. All pensions and retirement accounts are fully exempt. Support orders, and state tax debt collected through a separate administrative levy, follow entirely different rules.
| Governing law | Wage/pension exemption: M.G.L. c. 246, § 28. Trustee-process procedure: M.G.L. c. 246 generally and Mass. R. Civ. P. 4.2 (wages may only be trusteed on a claim already reduced to judgment, c. 246 § 32 Eighth). Support-order trustee process is separate: M.G.L. c. 208, § 36A |
|---|---|
| Maximum that can be garnished | Under c. 246 § 28, the amount exempt (protected) from attachment each week is the GREATER of 85% of the debtor's gross wages, or 50 times the higher of the federal or Massachusetts minimum hourly wage. Equivalently, a creditor can take only the lesser of 15% of gross wages, or the amount gross wages exceed that 50x floor. This is one of only a few state formulas that measures GROSS wages rather than disposable earnings |
| State rule vs. federal floor | More protective than the federal CCPA formula on both prongs in practice, though the mechanics differ: Massachusetts caps take at 15% of GROSS wages (not 25% of disposable earnings, which is a smaller base), and its 50x-minimum-wage floor uses whichever of the federal or Massachusetts minimum wage is higher — currently Massachusetts's own $15.00/hour — versus federal law's flat 30x the $7.25 federal rate |
| Minimum-wage protected floor | 50 times the higher of the federal minimum hourly wage ($7.25) or the Massachusetts minimum hourly wage ($15.00 under M.G.L. c. 151, § 1). Since Massachusetts's rate is higher, the floor is currently $750.00 of gross weekly wages fully protected before any garnishment can reach the rest |
| Support, tax & student loan debts | Support orders (alimony, separate maintenance, child support) are carved out of § 28 entirely; instead, the amount trusteed is capped by federal law's own support limits (up to 50-65% of disposable earnings, 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b)(2)) under a separate mechanism, M.G.L. c. 208, § 36A. Massachusetts tax debt is collected through the Department of Revenue's own administrative levy (M.G.L. c. 62C, § 53), not through this ordinary judgment-creditor process, and that levy carries its own, much smaller weekly wage exemption ($75 plus $25 per dependent, c. 62C § 55A) rather than the 85%/50x formula. Federal student loan default collection proceeds independently at 15% of disposable pay without a court order (20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(1)) |
| Head-of-household/family exemption | None built into the ordinary c. 246 § 28 formula itself — the 85%-of-gross/50x-minimum-wage exemption applies the same way regardless of dependents. (The separate state-tax administrative levy under c. 62C § 55A does add $25 per dependent to its own, much smaller weekly exemption, but that is a different collection mechanism, not an add-on to the ordinary wage-garnishment cap this survey covers) |
| Multiple garnishments at once | C. 246 has no wage-garnishment-specific priority statute (unlike some states). Massachusetts's general civil-attachment rule is first-in-time: successive attachments on the same property are ranked, and disbursed, 'in the order in which they were made' (M.G.L. c. 223, § 125). Support-order trustee process under c. 208, § 36A runs on its own track, separate from an ordinary creditor's trustee process, and federal law independently bars a state or court from enforcing any garnishment order that would violate the CCPA's caps |
| Protection from being fired | No Massachusetts statute was found barring discharge over an ORDINARY creditor's trustee process specifically, leaving the federal floor (15 U.S.C. § 1674, barring discharge for a single garnishment only) as the applicable rule. Massachusetts does have its own, broader anti-discharge protection, but only for SUPPORT-order trustee process: 'No employer may discharge, suspend, or discipline an employee by reason of his having been trusteed pursuant to this section' (M.G.L. c. 208, § 36A(5)), with no one-garnishment limit |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
The short answer
Massachusetts doesn't call it "wage garnishment" in its statute books — it's "trustee process," and your employer is the "trustee." If an ordinary creditor (a credit card company, a hospital, a personal-loan lender) already has a money judgment against you, it can trustee your paycheck, but the law protects most of it. Under M.G.L. c. 246, § 28, the amount protected each week is the greater of 85% of your gross wages or 50 times the higher of the federal or Massachusetts minimum hourly wage. In practice, that means a creditor can take no more than 15% of your gross pay — smaller, in most cases, than what federal law alone would allow. All pension and retirement account money held by an employer is completely off-limits. Child support, alimony, and state tax debt follow separate rules with their own, different formulas.
Requirements one by one
Governing law
The substantive protection lives in M.G.L. c. 246, § 28, inside the chapter governing "trustee process" — Massachusetts's name for garnishment. The procedural rules for actually obtaining one are in the rest of c. 246 and in Mass. R. Civ. P. 4.2. Critically, wages can only be trusteed on a claim that has "first been reduced to judgment" (c. 246, § 32, Eighth) — there's no pre-judgment wage attachment in Massachusetts. Child support and alimony trustee process runs on an entirely separate track, M.G.L. c. 208, § 36A.
Maximum that can be garnished
Section 28 doesn't phrase the rule as a percentage a creditor can take — it phrases it as an exemption: the amount protected is the greater of 85% of your gross wages, or 50 times the higher of the federal or Massachusetts minimum hourly wage, for each week. Flip that around and a creditor can take only the lesser of 15% of your gross wages, or the amount your wages exceed that 50-times floor. Two things make this formula unusual compared to most states: it measures gross wages, not disposable (after-tax) earnings, and pensions held by an employer-trustee are fully exempt outright, with no percentage limit at all.
State rule vs. federal floor
Federal law (15 U.S.C. § 1673) caps ordinary garnishment at the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings, or the amount disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage. Massachusetts's formula isn't a simple percentage-point comparison against that because it uses a different base (gross wages, not disposable earnings) and a different, larger multiplier (50x instead of 30x) applied to whichever of the federal or Massachusetts minimum wage is higher. In practice, because Massachusetts's own minimum wage is double the federal rate, and because 15% of gross pay is typically less than 25% of disposable pay, Massachusetts's rule protects more of a typical paycheck than the federal floor alone would.
Minimum-wage protected floor
The 50-times multiplier applies to whichever is higher: the federal minimum hourly wage ($7.25) or the Massachusetts minimum hourly wage, currently $15.00 an hour under M.G.L. c. 151, § 1. Since Massachusetts's rate is higher, the actual floor is 50 × $15.00 = $750.00 of gross weekly wages, fully protected before a creditor can reach anything.
Support, tax & student loan debts
A support order (child support, alimony, separate maintenance) isn't covered by § 28's 85%/50x formula at all — it's carved out by name, and instead the amount that can be trusteed follows federal law's own, more generous support limits: up to 50% of disposable earnings if you're supporting another spouse or child, or up to 60% if not (15 U.S.C. § 1673(b)(2)), enforced through the separate mechanism in M.G.L. c. 208, § 36A. State tax debt in Massachusetts doesn't go through this ordinary-creditor trustee process at all — the Department of Revenue collects unpaid tax through its own administrative levy (M.G.L. c. 62C, § 53), which needs no court judgment and carries its own, much smaller weekly wage exemption of just $75 plus $25 per dependent (c. 62C, § 55A). Federal student loan default collection is separate again: up to 15% of disposable pay, without a court order (20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(1)).
Head-of-household/family exemption
Section 28's ordinary garnishment formula doesn't add anything extra for supporting a family — the 85%-of-gross/50x-minimum-wage exemption is the same whether or not you have dependents. (The separate state tax levy under c. 62C, § 55A does add $25 per dependent to its own weekly exemption, but that's a feature of the tax-collection statute, not the ordinary wage-garnishment rule this survey covers.)
Multiple garnishments at once
Massachusetts's trustee-process chapter doesn't set out its own priority rule for multiple simultaneous ordinary garnishments the way some states do. The general civil-attachment principle that governs successive attachments is first-in-time: M.G.L. c. 223, § 125 provides that when property is subject to attachments "in favor of different plaintiffs," released funds are held "subject to the attachments in the order in which they were made." A support-order trustee process under c. 208, § 36A runs on its own separate track from an ordinary creditor's, and federal law separately bars enforcing any garnishment order that would exceed the CCPA's own caps regardless of how many orders exist.
Protection from being fired
No Massachusetts statute specific to discharge over an ordinary creditor's trustee process turned up in this research, so the federal floor controls: 15 U.S.C. § 1674 bars firing someone over a single garnishment, but not a second one. Massachusetts does have its own broader anti-discharge rule, but only for support-order trustee process: M.G.L. c. 208, § 36A(5) flatly bars an employer from discharging, suspending, or disciplining an employee "by reason of his having been trusteed pursuant to this section," with no limit to a single instance — a meaningfully stronger protection, but only in the support-enforcement context, not for an ordinary judgment creditor.
What trips people up
Massachusetts's formula measures 15% of GROSS wages, not disposable (after-tax) earnings — someone comparing it to the federal 25%-of-disposable-earnings rule needs to convert to the same base before assuming which one actually protects more in their specific paycheck. Also, "trustee process" is the term that will actually appear on court paperwork; searching only for "wage garnishment" can miss the relevant Massachusetts forms and case law. Finally, the state tax levy exemption ($75/week plus $25 per dependent) is dramatically smaller than the ordinary judgment-creditor exemption ($750/week at the current minimum wage) — someone who assumes the same generous protection applies to a Department of Revenue tax levy will be surprised by how much less is protected.
Common questions
Does "trustee process" mean something different from "wage garnishment"?
No — it's Massachusetts's own name for the same basic tool: a court order requiring your employer (the "trustee") to withhold part of your pay for a creditor.
Can a creditor take money before winning a lawsuit?
Not from wages. Massachusetts law only allows wages to be trusteed on a claim that has already been reduced to a judgment, unlike some property that can be attached earlier in a case.
Is my 401(k) or pension safe from an ordinary garnishment?
Yes. Section 28 fully exempts pension and retirement-plan money held by a trustee, with no percentage limit at all, separate from the wage formula.
Statutes and sources
- M.G.L. c. 246, § 28 — "If wages for personal labor or personal services of a defendant are attached for a debt or claim, an amount not exceeding the greater of 85 per cent of the debtor's gross wages or 50 times the greater of the federal or the Massachusetts hourly minimum wage for each week or portion thereof out of the wages then due to the defendant for labor performed or services rendered during each week for which such wages were earned but not paid shall be reserved in the hands of the trustee and shall be exempt from such attachment." — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter246/Section28 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- M.G.L. c. 246, § 28 — "The provisions of this section shall not apply in any proceeding to attach wages or a pension to satisfy a divorce, separate maintenance or child support order of a court of competent jurisdiction... the provisions of federal law limiting the amounts which may be trusteed, assigned or attached in order to satisfy an alimony, maintenance or child support order shall apply in lieu of said provisions of this section." — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter246/Section28 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- M.G.L. c. 246, § 32 (Eighth) — "By reason of money or credits due for the wages of personal labor or services of the defendant, unless such attachment is made in an action brought upon a judgment... and is authorized in advance by written permission endorsed upon the complaint and signed by a justice." — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleIV/Chapter246/Section32 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- M.G.L. c. 208, § 36A(5) — "No employer may discharge, suspend, or discipline an employee by reason of his having been trusteed pursuant to this section." — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleIII/Chapter208/Section36A (accessed 2026-07-05)
- M.G.L. c. 208, § 36A(1) — "the court which entered the support order shall retain continuing jurisdiction over the parties to the order and may enter an order of trustee process against the disposable earnings of the obligor... up to an amount permitted by federal law." — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartII/TitleIII/Chapter208/Section36A (accessed 2026-07-05)
- M.G.L. c. 223, § 125 — "When successive attachments in favor of different plaintiffs are made upon personal property... the amount so paid shall be held by the sheriff, after deducting the necessary charges, subject to the attachments in the order in which they were made." — https://codes.findlaw.com/ma/part-iii-courts-judicial-officers-and-proceedings-in-civil-cases-ch-211-262/ma-gen-laws-ch-223-sect-125/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- M.G.L. c. 62C, § 53(a) — "If any person liable to pay any tax neglects or refuses to pay the same within ten days after demand, it shall be lawful for the commissioner to collect such tax... by levy upon all property and rights to property belonging to such person." — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter62C/Section53 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- M.G.L. c. 62C, § 55A(d)(1) — "the amount of the wages, salary, and other income payable to or received by him during any week which is exempt from levy... shall be: (A) Seventy-five dollars, plus (B) Twenty-five dollars for each individual who is specified in a written statement." — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter62C/Section55A (accessed 2026-07-05)
- M.G.L. c. 151, § 1 — "A wage of less than $15.00 per hour, in any occupation, as defined in this chapter, shall conclusively be presumed to be oppressive and unreasonable... in no case shall the minimum wage rate be less than $.50 higher than the effective federal minimum rate." — https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXXI/Chapter151/Section1 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 15 U.S.C. § 1673(a) — "the maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subjected to garnishment may not exceed (1) 25 per centum of his disposable earnings for that week, or (2) the amount by which his disposable earnings for that week exceed thirty times the Federal minimum hourly wage... whichever is less." — https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title15/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 15 U.S.C. § 1673(b) — "The maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is subject to garnishment to enforce any order for the support of any person shall not exceed— (A)... 50 per centum... and (B)... 60 per centum." — https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title15/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673 (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 20 U.S.C. § 1095a(a)(1) — "the amount deducted for any pay period may not exceed 15 percent of disposable pay, except that a greater percentage may be deducted with the written consent of the individual involved." — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title20-section1095a&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-05)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.