§ 19-11-154.Penalties for employer’s noncompliance
Chapter 11. Enforcement of Duty of Support · Article 3. Uniform Interstate Family Support Act · Part 5. Direct Enforcement of Order of Another State Without Registration · Last amended 2024 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-11-154
Plain-English Summary
Direct withholding under § 19-11-150 works only if employers take out-of-state orders seriously. This section gives them reason to. An employer that willfully fails to comply with an income withholding order issued in another state and received for enforcement is subject to the same penalties that may be imposed for noncompliance with an order issued by a tribunal in Georgia.
Two words set the scope. “Willfully” means the section aims at deliberate noncompliance, not every error. And “received for enforcement” ties it to orders the employer has in hand, including orders sent directly without registration under § 19-11-150. The section doesn’t list the penalties; it borrows Georgia’s. Georgia’s income withholding statute offers one example: under § 19-6-33(f), the notice sent to a payor must specify that a payor that willfully fails to withhold the proper amount from an obligor’s earnings is liable for the amount it should have withheld, plus costs, interest and reasonable attorney’s fees, and the payor has the penalties that notice specifies.
This section is the counterpart to § 19-11-153, which protects an employer that complies. Together they leave an employer one sensible course: follow the order as § 19-11-151 and § 19-11-152 direct. The section was last amended in 2024.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if an employer ignores an out-of-state child support withholding order?
If the failure is willful, the employer faces the same penalties as for ignoring an order from a Georgia tribunal. For example, under Georgia’s withholding statute, § 19-6-33(f)(4), a payor that willfully fails to withhold the proper amount is liable for the amount it should have withheld, plus costs, interest and reasonable attorney’s fees.
Does the employer have to pay the support it failed to withhold?
It can be made to. This section applies Georgia’s penalties to willful noncompliance with an out-of-state order, and under § 19-6-33(f)(4) a payor that willfully fails to withhold the proper amount from an obligor’s earnings is liable for the amount it should have withheld, plus costs, interest and reasonable attorney’s fees.
Is an employer penalized for an honest mistake with a withholding order?
This section reaches an employer that “willfully” fails to comply. It doesn’t impose penalties for noncompliance that isn’t willful. Whether a particular failure was willful is a question for the tribunal on the facts. An employer that complies in accordance with the article is protected from civil liability under § 19-11-153.
Does the out-of-state order have to be registered before an employer can be penalized?
No. The section covers an income withholding order issued in another state “and received for enforcement.” Under § 19-11-150, such an order may be sent directly to the employer without first filing a petition or registering it with a Georgia tribunal, and the employer must treat it as a Georgia order under § 19-11-151(b).
Which Georgia penalties apply to an employer that ignores an out-of-state order?
The same penalties that may be imposed for noncompliance with an order issued by a Georgia tribunal. This section doesn’t list them; it borrows Georgia’s existing rules, such as the liability in § 19-6-33(f)(4) for the amount that should have been withheld, plus costs, interest and reasonable attorney’s fees.
Amendment History
Laws 1997, p. 1613, § 33; Laws 2013, Act 224, § 1, eff. July 1, 2013; Laws 2024, Act 428, § 9, eff. July 1, 2024.