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ACTU Recommendations for Unpaid Superannuation

The ACTU believes that many reforms are required to address Superannuation Guarantee non-compliance.

• Empower workers and their representatives to inspect employers’ records of payment of the SG;
• Empower workers and their representatives, such as their superannuation fund or union, to take action against employers for the non-payment of the superannuation guarantee or superannuation contributions;

The Superannuation Guarantee should be included in the National Employment Standards so that workers currently falling through the gaps in our system are entitled to the superannuation guarantee, and workers will be able to pursue unpaid super in the same fashion as unpaid wages;

• SG contributions should be paid at the same time as wages and shown on remittance advice with workers’ contributions;
• SG contributions should be paid on all earnings, removing the consistent ambiguity between ordinary time earnings and actual salary paid – a distinction which compounds poorer retirement outcomes for women;
• ATO and FWO must be properly resourced to proactively pursue unpaid super; 
• The ATO should be given the capacity to match employer payroll and PAYE data with SGC payments for the same period; and,
• That the $450 minimum per month earning threshold is abolished, and that all workers (regardless of age) are entitled to the SG.

Many of the ACTU’s reforms are supported by the Senate Economics References Committee report Superbad – Wage theft and non-compliance of the Superannuation Guarantee.