Yahoo Finance Aussie desperately trying to recover $5,000 in stolen super
Amelia is just one Aussie desperately trying to recover her superannuation from a past employer.
Amelia* started working a new job in 2021, but it wasn’t long before she realised something was wrong with her superannuation payments.
“I noticed my super wasn’t paid after the first three months of working there so I spoke to the accounts lady. At first, she claimed they didn’t have the correct super details for me, so I double-checked and they were all correct,” Amelia told Yahoo Finance.
“Then, she made some excuses and said it would eventually come. But I asked some other people in the company and they all said that I wouldn’t ever be getting it, and they were all still waiting for theirs too.”
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Not long after that, Amelia was fired. She made a complaint to Fair Work for unfair dismissal and unpaid super, and Fair Work ruled in her favour. Sadly, however, the battle was just getting started.
While Amelia was awarded a payment for the unfair dismissal, she still hasn’t received the nearly $5,000 she is owed in unpaid super.
She has taken the matter to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) but said the process had been “frustrating”.
“I'm finding it a very, very slow process. It's actually quite annoying because when it comes to your tax, they give you a time limit and you have to pay it back or you get a fine, but when it comes to getting back your unpaid super, they just say they’re investigating and that’s it,” she said.
“It's just really frustrating and I don't think they're taking it very seriously. There is this person out there who hasn't paid super for a lot of people, and they're not doing much about it. It's just really, really frustrating.”
Law changing to help solve super scourge
Back in May, the federal government announced it would mandate the payment of super with wages from 2026, to tackle the $5 billion-a-year unpaid super problem.
Industry Super Australia (ISA) said it was a great outcome for every Australian worker, saying it could deliver up to $50,000 more at retirement.
The new law will take effect from July 1, 2026. Once the change kicks in, employers will need to pay super at the same time as wages.
*Name has been changed to protect privacy.
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