Q LINK to Probe Public Servant Garnishee Orders

Structurally Unfair

The government has granted a tender to the company, Q LINK Holdings to probe the garnishee orders (emolument attachment orders/EAOs) attached to the wages of public servants for irregularities. Q LINK are confident that they will stop 20% of government employee garnishee orders in the upcoming couple of months.

In 2013, Summit Garnishee Solutions acquired Q LINK from Business Connexion to form Q LINK Holdings. Q LINK are seasoned garnishee fighters and consider these orders, which compel employers to make deductions from debtors’ wages, to be a “structurally unfair collection mechanism.”

Unconstitutional Garnishee Orders

Summit is a financial wellness company, who, incidentally, threw their weight behind the Stellenbosch Legal Aid Clinic’s (LAC) class action against Flemix & Associates for attaching illegal garnishee orders. The Western Cape High Court case was much publicised and LAC succeeded in having all of the garnishee orders attached to his 15 clients’ salaries ruled as unlawful and unenforceable, by Judge Siraj Desai.

Judge Desai found these garnishee orders to be against the human rights of the 15 consumers, as they robbed them of their right to earn a living and support themselves. In addition, the garnishees were granted in courts outside of the debtors’ jurisdictions.

Protect and Ensure Accountability

Executive Chairman of Q LINK, Clark Gardner expressed excitement “at the opportunity to protect public servants from irregularities and to ensure all past transgressions are reversed and accounted for accordingly.” Moreover, Q LINK has a solution that will allow them to manage garnishee orders attached to the salaries of public sector employees, going forward. Summit claims that, in South Africa, over 40% of unsecured debt belongs to civil servants.

Gardner said that, where collectors are reluctant to “voluntarily correct their mistakes” by rescinding irregular garnishee orders, Q LINK won’t hesitate to involve the courts to “protect employees and ensure accountability.”

Enforcing the High Court Ruling

Furthermore, Q LINK will be challenging any collection or legal fees associated with the garnishee orders they have rescinded, Gardner affirmed. Further acknowledging that, as “the debt still exists” even after a garnishee order is rescinded, Q LINK will nevertheless find a way to recover the outstanding capital. “Irregularities and past over deductions will be challenged in the appropriate court to rescind on a case-by-case or class action basis and criminally prosecuted if appropriate,” asserted Gardner.

He also said that Q LINK would attempt to have garnishee orders rescinded if they were granted by a court situated outside of the debtor’s jurisdiction. We are all just still waiting on the Constitutional Court to confirm Judge Desai’s High Court ruling.