Request By:
Mr. Grover C. Potts, Jr.
Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs
Citizens Plaza
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: David A. Smith, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested the opinion of this office as to whether KRS 405.035 prohibits an employer from imposing discipline upon an employee because of a wage assignment order.
As indicated in your letter, an employer, who is your client, recently received an assignment order against the wages of an employee who is at the third step of a four step disciplinary procedure. Four disciplinary actions would result in his dismissal from employment, and you have asked whether a wage assignment order may be counted as one of the four.
KRS 405.035 in pertinent part provides: ". . . no assignment under this section by an employee shall constitute grounds for dismissal of the employee." Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that a wage assignment order may not be used as a ground for disciplinary action resulting in dismissal of an employee.