MacKey v. Lanier Collection Agency & Service, Inc.

The issue here is whether and to what extent the Georgia statutes bearing on the garnishment of funds due to participants in ERISA employee welfare benefit plans are preempted by the federal statute which governs such plans.

Petitioners are the trustees of an employee benefit plan that provides vacation and holiday benefits to eligible employees in several southeastern States. The covered workers draw their vacation benefits from the plan annually. The plan is an “employee welfare benefit plan” as defined by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U. S. C. § 1002(1).1

Res…