South Australian workers are having $283 million in super stolen from them every year by dodgy bosses, with Makin, Port Adelaide, Adelaide electorates among the worst in the state, new data reveals.
New analysis of ATO data from 2016-17 by Industry Super Australia has revealed the extent to which the unpaid super scandal is impacting South Australian workers, with more than 170,000 people not receiving their legal super entitlement. The average person is missing out on around $1,600 a year in super.
And if no further action is taken by the Federal Government, by 2025 the total amount of super South Australian workers will have missed out on is projected to reach $3.7 billion.
Industry Super Australia Chief Executive Bernie Dean today released the data broken down by federal electorate in South Australia, and called on the South Australian Parliamentary Inquiry into Wage Theft to make a recommendation to the Federal Government to align the payment of super with wages.
Federal electorates Makin, Port Adelaide, Adelaide, Wakefield and Hindmarsh are the top five worst electorates in the state for unpaid super, although no electorate is immune from the problem.
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 money that should be a in a worker’s account and could make a huge difference to their quality of life at retirement.
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, there is currently no legal requirement that it gets paid into their super account at the same time as their salary is paid.
The easiest fix is for the Federal Government to change the law and require all employers to pay super on pay day. 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.
