Author: David Yen, LAF
Last updated: August 2010

The amounts of earnings exempt from wage assignments, wage deduction orders, and citations to discover assets, in Illinois, is 45 times the greater of the federal or state minimum wage in effect as of the date of the earnings are payable. The state minimum wage is $8.25 an hour while the federal minimum wage has only increased to $7.25 an hour, so the state minimum wage is the one that counts, with one exception, which is in the second chart.

The amount exempt from wage deduction (garnishment), wage assignment, or a citation to discover assets, is $371.25 per week.  [If the debtor’s wages are being reduced pursuant to a wage assignment, the wage assignment can be revoked unilaterally and immediately.   We have forms for this.]

The following table also shows the bi-weekly, semi-monthly, and monthly equivalents. 

		Wages Exempt from Garnishment
		Weekly ($8.25*45)	$371.25
		Bi-weekly	$742.50
		Semi-monthly	$804.37
		Monthly	$1608.75

Note: if your client’s wages are subject to an administrative wage garnishment (for a student loan), the weekly limit is 30 times the federal minimum wage, but the amount garnished is still 15% of the net wages. 

Administrative wage garnishment -- for student loans, only:
 

Weekly (7.25*30)	$217.50
Bi-weekly	$435.00
Semi-monthly	$471.25
Monthly	$942.50