Wage garnishment is sometimes ordered by federal or state courts when you owe back taxes, alimony, child support and certain other debts. Typically, an employer is contacted by the government authority through certified mail. This garnishment cannot be strictly "confidential" because the employer must be informed about it in order to garnish the wages. However, as few people as possible within the organization should know about the garnishment. Ideally, only a payroll manager or person in charge of processing employment paychecks knows about the garnishment.
Benefits of Confidentiality
An organization can't legally terminate or discipline an employee over one garnishment directive, according to the United States Department of Labor website. Thus, keeping the garnishment confidential helps the company protect against a manager intentionally or subconsciously being hard on the worker. If only the payroll manager knows about the order, direct supervisors can manage the worker without knowledge of the garnishment.
References
Writer Bio
Neil Kokemuller has been an active business, finance and education writer and content media website developer since 2007. He has been a college marketing professor since 2004. Kokemuller has additional professional experience in marketing, retail and small business. He holds a Master of Business Administration from Iowa State University.