Industry Super Australia (ISA) is calling for action on unpaid super with a new campaign calling for super to be paid on payday, as it currently is for our federal politicians.
ISA analysis shows one in three working Australians are robbed of close to $6 billion in super each year by dodgy bosses – the equivalent of nearly $2000 per person – with unpaid super going from bad to worse.
ISA notes that while most employers do the right thing, there is a small minority who exploit loopholes in the law and lax regulation to rip off hardworking Australians and rob them of their hard-earned super. This is seen as money that should be in a worker’s account and could make a huge difference to their quality of life at retirement.
According to the ISA, this occurs because super is only required to be paid into a worker’s account quarterly, meaning it is easy for payments to fall through the cracks and for unscrupulous employers to deliberately hang on to the money to undercut their competitors. While workers’ might think super has been paid into their account because it appears on their payslip, it also notes that there is currently no legal requirement that it gets paid into their super account at the same time as their salary is paid.
ISA believes that the easiest fix is for the Federal Government to change the law and require all employers to pay super on payday. Federal politicians have their super paid at the same time as wages and it’s only right this same protection is extended to all Australians.
ISA’s new advertising campaign highlights this discrepancy. The campaign has gone live recently, running across television, social media, digital platforms and search engine marketing.
Industry Super Australia Acting Chief Executive, Matthew Linden, said, “One in three Australian workers are having their super stolen by unscrupulous employers. It’s daylight robbery and it’s got to stop. The simple fix is to for federal politicians to change the law and make employers pay super at the same time as wages. If it is good enough for our federal politicians it should work that way for all Australians.”
Linden added, “Making super payable on payday for everyone will make cash flow easier for small business and protect the nest eggs Australians work so hard for – it’s a win-win.”
