N.Y. Personal Property Law § 48: Notice to be mailed to assignor prior to filing with employer

§ 48. Notice to be mailed to assignor prior to filing with employer.

1. No assignment of future earnings shall be filed with the assignor's

employer until twenty days shall have elapsed after a written notice

shall have been mailed to the assignor by certified mail, return receipt

requested, addressed to his last known place of residence stating that

unless the amounts in default are paid within twenty days from the date

of the mailing, the assignment will be filed with the assignor's

employer. If the aforesaid notice is returned undelivered it may be

mailed to the assignor by certified mail, return receipt requested,

addressed to the assignor at the address where he is employed or, in the

alternative, it may be served in the same manner as a summons.

Such written notice shall not be mailed by the assignee until at least

twenty-one days shall have elapsed after default by the assignor in a

payment due on the indebtedness and such written notice shall contain

substantially the following language: "Bring this notice with you when

making any payment on account of your indebtedness and have the payment

endorsed on this notice."

2. If a payment in any amount is accepted by the assignee after the

mailing of said notice and if the fact of such payment is noted in

writing by the assignee at the time of the acceptance of the payment,

either upon the notice or upon some other paper bearing a reference to

said notice, the assignor shall no longer be considered in default for

the purpose of permitting an assignment to be filed with the assignor's

employer. In the event, however, of any subsequent default, the assignee

may file the assignment upon compliance with the provisions of the

preceding paragraph of this section as though no prior default had

occurred.

3. The written notice required by subdivision one of this section

shall be accompanied by copies of the papers required to be delivered by

section forty-six-e of this article and by a written notice which shall

contain substantially the following language:

"If you believe that you have a defense to the aforesaid wage

assignment or the debt secured thereby you are entitled to follow either

of the following procedures designed as (a) and (b).

(a) You are entitled to a hearing before a court of record in

accordance with the provisions of section forty-seven-e of the personal

property law which reads as follows:

(insert provisions of section forty-seven-e of the personal property

law)

(b) Within ten days after receipt of the aforesaid notice, you are

entitled to mail to the assignee, by certified mail return receipt

requested, a written notice containing your name, residence address and

substantially the following language:

'I (insert name) residing at (insert address) hereby affirm that I

have a bona fide defense to the claim in your notice dated (insert date

of notice) and to the wage assignment given as security therefor, based

upon the following facts (state the facts constituting the basis of your

defense)'"

4. Upon receipt of such notice the assignee shall be precluded from

filing such wage assignment with the employer until it obtains an order

of a court of record authorizing such filing. The assignee shall be

entitled to institute a special proceeding in a court of record to

obtain such an order. At least eight days' notice of the application for

such order shall be given to the assignor in the manner prescribed in

subdivision one of this section and if a hearing is held the assignor

shall have all the rights prescribed by section forty-seven-e of this

article.