Attachment of earnings

Large businesses

Self-employed

SMEs

In principle, employers must pay employees' remuneration in full at the end of each month and provide them with a payslip showing how it has been calculated.

The Tribunal de Paix (Magistrate's Court) may issue a judgment compelling the employer to attach a portion of their employee's earnings – that is, to withhold a specific amount from the employee's salary in order to pay back a specific creditor in settlement of a known debt.

Who is concerned

There are 3 parties involved in an attachment-of-earnings procedure, namely:

the distrainer, i.e. the person to whom the employee is indebted, and who initiates the attachment-of-earnings procedure;
the distrainee, i.e. the employee who is indebted to a third party, and on whose earnings the attachment is made;
the third-party distrainee, i.e. the intermediary who enacts the attachment of earnings, that is, the employer.

Prerequisites

An attachment of earnings can only be made if:

the employer (the third-party distrainee) and the employee (the distrainee) are bound by an employment contract;
a legally binding order has been issued by the competent Magistrate's Court at the request of the creditor.

How to proceed

Enforcing an attachment-of-earnings order

If an employee fails to honour their financial commitments (examples: recognition of their debts, an order to pay alimony/child support, etc.), the creditor may file an application to initiate an attachment procedure to compel the employer to withhold a portion of the debtor's earnings.

When an attachment-of-earnings order is made, it is notified to the employer by the magistrate's court.

During the so-called suspension phase, i.e. the period between the notification of the attachment order to the employer and the judgment validating the attachment, the employer must:

within 8 days of receiving notification of the authorisation to proceed with the attachment, provide the court with:
- either an affirmative declaration, confirming to the magistrate that the person in question is indeed an employee of theirs, and stating:
  - the net monthly amount of the employee's salary;
  - any assignments of salaries;
- or a negative declaration, specifying the date when the person in question left their employ;
deduct the legally attached amount from the employee's net salary;
retain the legally attached amount pending the judgment validating the attachment.

After the judgment validating the attachment is handed down, i.e. when the judge has confirmed that the employee owes the requested amounts, the employer must:

continue to deduct the attached amounts from the worker's salary;
pay those monies to the creditor, along with sums already withheld, until the debt is paid in full.

Any employer who fails to file a declaration with the court, or make the required legal attachments, may be purely and simply held by the court as the debtor for the amount of the debt.

Calculating the attachable share of a salary

The attachable share of a salary is determined on the basis of net monthly earnings broken down into 5 earnings brackets that are set by Grand-Ducal Regulation. For each earnings bracket, an attachable portion is defined by law as shown in the table below:

Earnings bracket	Monthly limits per bracket	Attachable portion
1	up to and including EUR 722	unattachable
2	from EUR 722.01 to EUR 1,115 (inclusive)	10 %
3	from EUR 1,115.01 to EUR 1,378 (inclusive)	20 %
4	from EUR 1,378.01 to EUR 2,296 (inclusive)	25 %
5	from EUR 2,296.01	unlimited

Example: an attachment of EUR 4,000 must be made on a net monthly salary of EUR 3,000.

In order to determine the monthly amount that can be attached, the different brackets into which the net monthly earnings fall must first be determined. Once determined, the attachable amount is calculated as follows:

Bracket 1: no earnings can be attached

Bracket 2: (1,115 – 722.01) x 10 % = EUR 39.3

Bracket 3: (1,378 – 1,115.01) x 20 % = EUR 52.6

Bracket 4: (2,296 – 1,378.01) x 25 % = EUR 229.5

Bracket 5: (3,000 – 2,296.01) = EUR 704

Based on the different earnings brackets, the monthly amount that can be deducted is 39.3 + 52.6 + 229.5 + 704 = EUR 1,025.40.

This amount will be deducted each month from the employee's salary until the debt is repaid in full.

When several attachment-of-earnings orders have been made on the same salary, the magistrate determines the seizable amounts in proportion to the amounts owed.

Some debts can recovered by seizing the amount due on the unattachable portion of wages. More particularly, this is the case for child maintenance payments that are owed for the month in question.

Forms / Online services

Saisie-arrêt - modèle de requête

Télécharger le formulaire

Saisie-arrêt - déclaration affirmative de l'employeur

Télécharger le formulaire

Saisie-arrêt - déclaration négative de l'employeur

Télécharger le formulaire

Who to contact

Double click to activate the map

District Court
District Court Diekirch

Place Guillaume
L-9237 Diekirch
Luxembourg
Postal address :
B.P. 164 L-9202 Diekirch

Phone : (+352) 803214-1

Fax : (+352) 807119 ou (+352) 802484

(+352) 803214-1 Path to District Court Diekirch More information on District Court Diekirch
District Court Luxembourg

Cité judiciaire
L-2080 Luxembourg
Luxembourg

Phone : (+352) 475981-1

Fax : (+352) 475981-2421

(+352) 475981-1 Path to District Court Luxembourg More information on District Court Luxembourg

We are interested in your opinion

How would you rate the content of this page?

For more information

Legal references

Code du travail, Livre II, Titre II, Chapitre IV
Loi du 11 novembre 1970

sur les cessions et saisies des rémunérations de travail ainsi que des pensions et rentes
Règlement grand-ducal du 9 janvier 1979

concernant la procédure des saisies-arrêts et cessions sur les rémunérations de travail et les pensions et rentes
Règlement grand-ducal du 27 septembre 2016

fixant les taux de cessibilité et de saisissabilité des rémunérations de travail, pensions et rentes