We received a garnishment request from a check cashing service. Are we required to comply if this isn’t a court order?

Employees who use check cashing or pay day loan services will commonly sign an agreement which says they agree to a wage garnishment if they fail to repay the loan. However, this is only an agreement between the loan provider and the employee. It does not impose any legal obligation on your company to garnish the employee’s wages. You are not obligated to garnish wages at the request of a private company. Many employers refuse to follow these requests because garnishing wages may require time and expense, and you would simply be helping the loan service to collect their debt.