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B-204109 1 (1981-08-19)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabjbn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 Ovzcr. oF GFNERAL COUNSEL B-204109 August 19, 1981 John A. Howard, Esq. 1367 East Sixth Street Cleveland, Ohio 44114 Der Mr. Howard: We refer to your June 1, 1981 letter, wherein you call our attention to the Judgment Entry (copy of which you attached) in the case of Kienzle v. Kienzle, Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Case No. 80D-117886. You specifically request that we comply with paragraph 13 of the Judgment Entry which orders Richard G. Kienzle's employer, the General Accounting Office, to withhold $153 each biweekly pay period until further order of the court and forward this amount to the Clerk of Court, Alimony Section, Justice Center, Cleveland, Ohio. For reasons given below we are unable to comply with this provision of the Judgment Entry. Under 42 U.S.C. § 659(a), the United States has waived its sovereign immunity to a limited extent to provide for the enforcement of state writs (in the nature) of garnish- ment against the United States (or an agency thereof) as a garnishee when the garnishment is to enforce the legal obligation of an employee of the United States to provide child support or alimony. See, e.g., Overman v. United States, 563 F.2d 1287, 1291-1292 (8th Cir. 1977). This limited waiver of sovereign immunity does not create a new statutory right under Federal law to garnish Federal employees' wages but rather merely makes the United States subject to the jurisdiction of a state court for garnish- ment proceedings under state law. See Diaz v. Diaz, 568 F.2d 1061 (4th Cir. 1977). Accordingly, for a Federal agency to honor a writ of garnishment, the writ of garnishment, among other things, must be to enforce a legal obligation to pay alimony or child support, and it must be in conformity with state law. With the above principles in mind, the reasons for our inability to comply with the Judgment Entry are that it contains internal inconsistencies which make the purpose

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