A collection agency called my work in New Jersey
A debt collector may call you at work until it knows or has reason to know your employer does not allow those calls; after that, workplace calls violate the FDCPA. It may call your employer only to confirm where you work, and may not tell anyone there that you owe a debt. In New Jersey, wages can be garnished only through a court order after a judgment, and federal law bars your employer from firing you over a garnishment for any one debt.
The call came to the front desk. Or to your work cell, during a shift, with coworkers nearby. Maybe the collector asked your manager to "have you call back about a personal business matter," and now you are wondering what your manager was told.
The FDCPA sets clear limits on workplace contact, and New Jersey law adds limits on what a collector can actually do to your paycheck.
Calls to you at work
A collector may not communicate with you at your place of employment if it "knows or has reason to know" your employer prohibits you from receiving those communications (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(3); 12 C.F.R. § 1006.6(b)(3)). Once you say your job does not allow the calls, the next call to work can be a violation.
- Say it once, clearly. "My employer does not allow personal calls at work. Do not call me here."
- Then put it in writing. A short letter with the date is better evidence than your memory of a call. The letter builder writes a letter setting the rules for contact.
- No work email. A collector may not email an address it knows or should know your employer provided, except in narrow cases such as when you wrote to it from that address (12 C.F.R. § 1006.22(f)(3)).
- Or stop all contact. A written request to stop communicating ends contact, apart from notice that it is stopping or of a specific remedy such as a lawsuit (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(c)).
Our general post, can a debt collector call my job, covers the same rule nationally.
Calls to your employer
A collector may contact a third party, including your employer, only to obtain location information: your home address and phone number, or your place of employment (15 U.S.C. §§ 1692a(7), 1692b). In that call it:
- May not say you owe a debt (§ 1692b(2)).
- May not call again, as a rule, unless asked or it reasonably believes the earlier answer was wrong or incomplete (§ 1692b(3)).
- May not discuss the debt with anyone other than you, your lawyer, a credit bureau, the creditor and the lawyers involved, without your consent or a court's permission (§ 1692c(b)).
A collector that tells your supervisor or HR about the debt, or keeps calling them to pressure you, may be violating these rules. Write down who took the call and what they were told, while they remember.
Garnishment threats in New Jersey
Collectors sometimes say they will "contact payroll" or "garnish your wages." In New Jersey, a wage execution is a court order entered after a judgment. The New Jersey Courts' form of order limits the deduction to the lesser of 10 percent of gross weekly pay, 25 percent of disposable earnings, or the amount over a set floor, and in no event more than 10 percent of gross salary; the debtor may ask the court for a reduction at any time. Federal law adds that "no employer may discharge any employee by reason of the fact that his earnings have been subjected to garnishment for any one indebtedness" (15 U.S.C. § 1674(a)).
A threat to garnish wages is a violation unless the action is lawful and the collector intends to take it (15 U.S.C. § 1692e(4), (5)). A collector with no lawsuit and no judgment cannot garnish anything next week. See threats to sue.
A creditor generally has six years to sue on a contract debt in New Jersey (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1). If you have been sued, do not ignore the papers: the answer deadline is short, so check the summons. See sued by a debt collector.
In New Jersey, New York and Florida
In New Jersey, the FDCPA is the main tool against collectors, as the Third Circuit applies it. The FDCPA provides actual damages plus statutory damages of up to $1,000, and it requires a collector found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The deadline is one year from the violation. The New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act allows treble damages and fees for an ascertainable loss from an unlawful practice, but whether a particular collection practice falls under it is fact-specific. See New Jersey.
New York bars a creditor or its agent from contacting your employer about the debt before a judgment, apart from wage assignment situations (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 601(4)); Florida bars contacting your employer before a final judgment unless you permit it in writing or acknowledged the debt in writing (Fla. Stat. § 559.72(4)). See New York and Florida.
What to do this week
- Tell the collector in writing that your employer does not allow the calls, and keep proof of mailing.
- Ask whoever took the call at work what the collector said, and write it down with the date.
- Log every call in the call log, including calls to the front desk.
- Check for a lawsuit before believing any garnishment threat.
Sources: 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692a(7), 1692b, 1692c, 1692e(4), (5), 1692k, 1674(a); 12 C.F.R. §§ 1006.6(b)(3), 1006.22(f)(3); N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1, 56:8-19; New Jersey Courts, Order and Execution Against Earnings, form CN 11471; N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 601(4); Fla. Stat. § 559.72(4).
Common questions
Do I have to tell the collector in writing that my job does not allow calls?
The FDCPA rule turns on what the collector knows or has reason to know, so telling it on the phone counts. A short letter is better evidence. Keep a copy and proof of the date it was received.
Can the collector email my work address?
Generally no. Regulation F bars a collector from emailing an address it knows or should know your employer provided, with narrow exceptions, such as when you used that address to write to the collector yourself.
The collector said it would garnish my paycheck next week. Can it?
Not without a judgment. In New Jersey, a wage execution comes from a court after the creditor wins the case. A collector that threatens garnishment it cannot lawfully take, or does not intend to take, may violate the FDCPA.
Tell us what they did.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which laws the collector or the credit bureau broke, which deadline runs first, and what to save this week. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510The FDCPA and the FCRA require a company found liable to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Our fee arrangement is confirmed in a written retainer before we begin. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language.