Under California law, employee wages are exempt from levies of attachment. See Code Civ. Proc. § 487.020(c) (“the following property is exempt from attachment: … (c) ‘Earnings’ as defined by Section 706.011.”); Code Civ. Proc. § 706.011(a) (“‘Earnings’ means compensation payable by an employer to an employee for personal services performed by such employee, whether denominated as wages, salary, commission, bonus, or otherwise.”). This absolute exemption has been recognized by numerous California appellate courts. See, e.g., Barnhill v. Robert Saunders & Co., 125 Cal. App. 3d 1, 6 (1981) (noting the absolute exemption that wages have from levies of attachment); see also California State Employees’ Assn. v. State of California, 198 Cal. App. 3d 374, 377 (1988) (attachment and wage garnishment laws “provide substantial protection for wages against both pretrial attachments and enforcement of judgments”). As the court explained in Barnhill, “fundamental due process considerations underlie the prejudgment exemption. Permitting [an employer] to reach [an employee’s] wages by setoff would let it accomplish what neither it nor any other creditor could do by attachment and would defeat the legislative policy underlying that exemption.” Barnhill, 125 Cal. App. 3d at 6. “Wages of workers in California have long been accorded a special status generally beyond the reach of claims by creditors including those of an employer.” See also Kerr’s Catering Service v. Department of Industrial Relations, 57 Cal. 2d 319, 325 (1962) (“Wages of workers in California have long been accorded a special status generally beyond the reach of claims by creditors including those of an employer.”).
