§ 580-505 Penalties for noncompliance

If a business gets an order from another state telling them to withhold part of an employee's paycheck for child support (or similar support payments), they have to treat it the same as if a New York court had sent that order. This means the employer cannot ignore or refuse to follow the out-of-state order just because it did not come from a New York court.

If an employer knowingly ignores or refuses to follow that out-of-state withholding order, they can be punished just as if they had ignored an order from a New York court. In other words, there is no free pass for treating out-of-state orders differently. The same fines or legal consequences apply either way.

This rule matters most for employers, since it puts them on notice that they must comply no matter which state issued the order. For employees who depend on that support money, it also offers some protection. It helps make sure their payments keep coming even when the order originally came from somewhere else.