---
title: "Check employee wage claims against a secured claim in a bankruptcy"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/banking-and-finance/check-employee-claims-against-a-circulating-security-interest/united-states"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A3-OC20261022-8-US"
practice_area: "Banking & Finance (Lending, Securities, Project Finance)"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["US"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-22"
---

# Check employee wage claims against a secured claim in a bankruptcy

> From the petition date or the date the business ceased, whichever the lawyer identifies as first, the tool lists wages, salaries, or commissions, including vacation, severance, and sick-leave pay, earned by an…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/banking-and-finance/check-employee-claims-against-a-circulating-security-interest/united-states  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Banking & Finance (Lending, Securities, Project Finance)](https://ailawframework.com/practice/banking-and-finance.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | From the petition date or the date the business ceased, whichever the lawyer identifies as first, the tool lists wages, salaries, or commissions, including vacation, severance, and sick-leave pay, earned by an individual within 180 days, and any sales commissions that meet the one-employee and 75 percent tests. It applies a dollar cap only after the lawyer confirms the current adjusted amount. It does not rank the claim ahead of a lien. |
| What the lawyer must review | 11 U.S.C. §§ 507(a)(4) and 506(a). Section 507(a)(4) is a fourth-priority unsecured claim, only to the statutory cap, for wages, salaries, or commissions, including vacation, severance, and sick-leave pay, earned by an individual within 180 days before the petition or the cessation of the debtor's business, whichever occurs first. The same paragraph covers sales commissions of an individual, or of a corporation with only one employee, acting as an independent contractor in the ordinary course of the debtor's business, if at least 75 percent of the amount that person earned as such a contractor in the 12 months preceding that date was earned from the debtor. The Code text prints $10,000, with a footnote to the Adjustment of Dollar Amounts note. That note, by notice dated 30 January 2025, 90 F.R. 8941, effective 1 April 2025, records that the dollar amount in subsection (a)(4) was adjusted from 15,150 to 17,150. Section 506(a)(1) makes an allowed claim secured by a lien a secured claim to the extent of the value of the creditor's interest in the estate's interest in the property, and an unsecured claim for the remainder. The lawyer confirms the cap against 11 U.S.C. § 104 before use. |
| Written for | United States |
| Applies to | [Check employee claims against a circulating security interest](https://ailawframework.com/practice/banking-and-finance/check-employee-claims-against-a-circulating-security-interest.md) |

## Checking plan

- What the AI does: From the petition date or the date the business ceased, whichever the lawyer identifies as first, the tool lists wages, salaries, or commissions, including vacation, severance, and sick-leave pay, earned by an individual within 180 days, and any sales commissions that meet the one-employee and 75 percent tests. It applies a dollar cap only after the lawyer confirms the current adjusted amount. It does not rank the claim ahead of a lien.
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 22 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Notes

- The figure $17,150 is the amount the 30 January 2025 note on the section 507 page records as effective 1 April 2025. The lawyer confirms it against section 104. The printed Code text of $10,000 is not used as the current cap.
- Section 507(a)(5) is a separate priority. The same note adjusts subsection (a)(5)(B)(i) from 15,150 to 17,150. The tool does not add that priority to the wage claim.
- A lien is measured under section 506(a). The wage priority in section 507(a)(4) is an unsecured priority.

## Sources

- [11 U.S.C. § 507, Priorities](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/507) (checked 2026-10-22)
- [11 U.S.C. § 506, Determination of secured status](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/506) (checked 2026-10-22)

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*