Work not paying superannuation. Reclaiming interest?

[acarmody]

So basically my work is way behind in super, payments only up to March last year.

Now apparently another staff has complained and all super owing will be paid in the next couple of weeks.

I worked out that my super has made ~20% in the last year, now that only equals about $800 interest from March 2013 to now, but that is money I have lost due to my work not paying my super.

So basically what are my chances of getting my work to reimburse the super interest I have lost? I'm only 26 so I still have 40 odd years of compound interest to make. So $800 can turn into a fair whack of money.

I will be approaching the GM on Wednesday, but I'm interested in what you guys and gals think?

 

[c2105026]

Well if you were in a large workplace with industrial representation union could go into bat for you. Not sure what law says here about paying lost interest (though repaying raw amount is a must) you could get a lawyer onto it if not in union but may not be cost effective. Fair work Australia could be another avenue but again I don't know the time/cost implications, and may sully relations with management in years to come. In first instance it could be worth attempting to negotiate something, take it from there.

Nonetheless 20% is a helluva return, wish I had your fund manager

 

[corhijasna]

you won't get the compound interest back as you call it as the money wasn't there to earn interest,and the average super return is only around 12 percent anyway,the employer will have to by law backpay your super however there is no law that says they have to pay interest you may have earned as far as I know,it is and always will be up to the individual to ensure their super is paid usually on a monthly basis-sorry to burst your bubble

 

[SookyTurner]

If your employer submits a Super Guarantee Charge (and you are meant to if it has been lodged late) form then interest will be paid on top of the regular contribution. However the interest % is whatever the ATO uses/decides. Also if he does submit the SGC form then he pays the unpaid Super to the ATO and they distribute it to the employees.

 

[acarmody]

If your employer submits a Super Guarantee Charge (and you are meant to if it has been lodged late) form then interest will be paid on top of the regular contribution. However the interest % is whatever the ATO uses/decides. Also if he does submit the SGC form then he pays the unpaid Super to the ATO and they distribute it to the employees.

Apparently its about 10%.

What also shits me is that my Death, TPD, and Income protection insurance all go through my Super, but not if the employer isn't up to date with payments. So not only have I not been covered by these, I have been paying the premiums for no reason.

I might have to talk to someone about maybe filing a Small Claims Court file. See if I can get some money back.

 

[Senator829]

Generally when a company starts playing games like this means they are in financial trouble and are juggling money. Hope that's not the case and you get your entitlements

 

[Astranomical]

My previous employer decided that they didn't have to pay me super for some reason. Only lasted 6 months there before throwing in the towel for that and other reasons. I got onto the ATO who did an investigation, in the end I ended up getting everything.

 

[greenacc]

Have they given you any reason why it is so late? Is the boss driving a Porsche or is he actually hard up for cash ?
Its Probably time to give ATO or some other industrial relations office a buzz and put some heat on them as it's not acceptable. Just make sure IR isn't going to ring them up and say Mr Carmody told us yous aint paying super is that right?

 

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

What also shits me is that my Death, TPD, and Income protection insurance all go through my Super, but not if the employer isn't up to date with payments. So not only have I not been covered by these, I have been paying the premiums for no reason.

This makes no sense. If you're paying for separate premiums then you're still covered by them. The inclusive cover you get when contributions are being made are not part of a separate policy you're paying for separately.

I might have to talk to someone about maybe filing a Small Claims Court file. See if I can get some money back.

Just out of curiosity, what would you be doing if, like a lot of people, your Super had made a loss?

Bottom line is - you aren't entitled to the increases because your money (yes it's yours) wasn't invested. Just like you can't got the TAB and buy a ticket for the winning horse after the race has been run.

If however, you can prove your employers haven't been making the compulsory contributions as frequently as they're required to by law (monthly at minimum or as frequently as they like above that), and if you can prove exactly how much interest your investment would have made during that period, then your best course of action would be to take the employer to the civil and administrative tribunal. However - think about how ANY action could affect your employment.

But the people that can take action against employers, is the ATO. If your employer is breaking the law regarding superannuation, they should be reported to the ATO. But again, think about how ANY action could affect your employment.

 

[SookyTurner]

Just out of curiosity, what would you be doing if, like a lot of people, your Super had made a loss?

Bottom line is - you aren't entitled to the increases because your money (yes it's yours) wasn't invested. Just like you can't got the TAB and buy a ticket for the winning horse after the race has been run.

If however, you can prove your employers haven't been making the compulsory contributions as frequently as they're required to by law (monthly at minimum or as frequently as they like above that), and if you can prove exactly how much interest your investment would have made during that period, then your best course of action would be to take the employer to the civil and administrative tribunal. However - think about how ANY action could affect your employment.

But the people that can take action against employers, is the ATO. If your employer is breaking the law regarding superannuation, they should be reported to the ATO. But again, think about how ANY action could affect your employment.

The ATO compensates nominal interest for the employees of employers not paying Superannuation. When submitting a SGC (ATO document number NAT9599) statement (like I stated above, which are meant to lodged if super is being paid late) it asks you to calculate the nominal interest component. In the ATO form NAT-9600 which shows you how to manually fill out the SGC form, it states the following for the interest:

' Nominal interest compensates your employee for
the interest forfeited as a result of your late payment or
non-payment of their superannuation guarantee entitlement.'

To calculate the nominal interest you need to use the following ATO form NAT-72393. It looks like it works the interest out at around 10% on a daily basis, however I do not know this for sure, that is just what it looks like from the form.

They do compensate you for the interest you may have lost, it may not be as high of a return as you would have got investing it yourself, it may be more - depends on numerous factors.

The ATO blends all of these forms into one electronic calculator which does everything for you: https://expertsystems.ato.gov.au/scripts/net/SGChargeUI/scIntroduction.aspx?PID=68&ms=Businesses