Small Claims Court ordered my employer to pay me. How do I get the money?
Just because the court ordered your employer to pay you money, does not mean that you automatically get the money.
If your employer does not obey the court order, you have to take steps to try to make them pay.
You won’t be able to collect from the employer unless they:
- have money, for example, in a bank account
- get payments from someone who owes them money
- own property or land that can be taken and sold
If the employer does not obey the court order, it can cost you a lot of money and take a lot of time and effort to try and make them pay.
Ways to get your money
You can use the Small Claims Court to try and collect the money. The 3 main ways to do this are:
- garnishment
- having things that the employer owns, other than land, taken and sold
- taking steps to have the employer’s land sold
You may hear the term “judgment debtor” if you use a court process to try to collect money from your employer. This is the legal term for the person who owes you money because the court ordered them to pay it.
In the Next Steps, we say “employer” instead of “judgment debtor“.
