Effective Pay Period 05-19 (Pay Date March 8, 2019), the U.S. Postal Service® will change the way it collects administrative fees from employees for processing creditor garnishments. Currently, the Postal Service™ charges an $80.00 set-up fee for executing a garnishment. In the future, the Postal Service will charge $6.00 each time a deduction is made from an employee’s wages and monies are paid to the creditor. This change in the garnishment fee structure is a more equitable solution to the administrative fee burden placed on debtor employees and aligns closely with the current collection practices for child support fees and Treasury Offset fees.
The Postal Service is obligated to administrate, collect, and disburse monies subject to garnishment orders that are legally imposed upon Postal Service employees. The United States Code, 5 U.S.C. 5520a (j)(2), states that a federal agency‘s administrative costs in executing a garnishment action may be added to the garnishment, and that the agency may retain costs covered as offsetting collections.
Furthermore, the implementation regulation at 39 CFR Sec. 491.5 states that Postal Service administrative costs in executing the garnishment action will be added to each garnishment, and the costs recovered will be retained as offsetting collections. The Postal Service reserves the right to:
n Re-determine the administrative cost of any garnishment if, in administering the garnishment, extra costs are incurred beyond those normally encountered, and
n Add the extra cost to each garnishment.
The extra costs recovered will be retained as offsetting collections. The administrative costs will be collected from the employee upon whom the garnishment is served.
— Payroll, Controller, 2-14-19
