National Post – October 15, 2010
Federal staff pay $51-million in court orders
Postmedia News
OTTAWA – The federal government has seized more than $51-million in wages from its public servants over the past 4 years in response to court orders to collect unpaid debts and child and spousal support payments from tardy employees. But it has also been late passing along the seized payments to creditors, such as single parents, in thousands of cases, its own records show. More than a dozen federal departments and agencies were late passing on seized payments to the courts in almost 6,400 cases. That resulted in delays of about $2.4-million in support payments or reimbursements for unpaid debts by the government. Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla raised the issue of missed deadlines by the government itself. About 2,100 public servants have portions of their wages seized every year by the government, documents show.