There’s a new law on unpaid super. But Cheree doesn’t expect to recoup the $12,000 she is owed

E mployees fighting to claim unpaid superannuation are hopeful that a change to the National Employment Standards will help them recover their money faster. The change, which took effect on 1 January, means employees can take direct legal action to recover their unpaid superannuation. Superannuation that is underpaid or unpaid can be enforced under the Fair Work Act, by a fair work inspector, through the small claims court or by referring matters to the Australian Taxation Office.

Cheree Corbin is among the one quarter of Australian employees trying to reclaim lost superannuation – in her case, more than $12,000 owing from a company that has since gone into liquidation. Every Australian worker has the right to be paid their super on time and in full Georgia Brumby, Super Members Council Corbin learned of her unpaid super after a colleague discovered their own super had not been paid.

“It’s not something I would ever have imagined happening. I just assumed the tax office would keep on top of something like that,” she said. Corbin reported the non payments to the ATO and engaged the employer to begin a payment plan. She has only received one of the proposed repayments and communications ceased in January 2023.

With an added $3,000 in lost wages, Corbin said she does not expect to see any of the money. “It’s incredibly frustrating,” she said. “I don’t have much super anyway, because I moved here from New Zealand about 12 years ago. Now I’m down $15,000 and whatever interest I might have earned.

“I’m just one of many, many people who have been fucked over and, short of a criminal investigation, I don’t know how a government department is going to pursue them.” She said that without strong enforcement, the new policy was “just words”. In September, Guardian Australia revealed the ATO had never used its powers to issue employees with a direction to pay, despite getting those powers in 2019.

‘It’s incredibly frustrating,’ Corbin says. Photograph: Blake Sharp Wiggins/The Guardian “If a government and society decide people are responsible for their own retirement savings, payment via employers needs to be strictly enforced,” Corbin said. “Either that or employers need to be entirely decoupled from the process.

Just pay me the full amount and let me deposit my super into my account. Get everyone else’s sticky fingers out of it.” “I see no difference between not paying someone’s super and stealing money from their bank account.” The Super Members Council’s executive general manager of advocacy, Georgia Brumby, said unpaid super is a “scourge” worth an estimated $5bn each year.

“Every Australian worker has the right to be paid their super on time and in full,” she said. “Enshrining super as a workplace right in the National Employment Standards will help more workers get the super they are entitled to, by giving workers and their representatives the legal standing to recoup unpaid super through the courts – meaning they don’t have to rely solely on the ATO to recover unpaid super.” ‘A dent in our retirement’: the battle to help Australian workers recover unpaid super Read more The Albanese government in May passed laws requiring employers to pay superannuation on payday , rather than quarterly, from July 2026.

Brumby said the changes were simple but important. “Payday super reforms and the criminalisation of deliberate underpayments will help curb unpaid super, delivering more super to more Australians,” she said. “Workers are better able to keep track of payments, businesses don’t build up large super liabilities each quarter and regulators will be able to better monitor payments in real time.” A spokesperson for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations said including superannuation in the NES would deliver a “better, fairer” system.

“The Australian Taxation Office still has primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with the superannuation guarantee and associated obligations and all employees will continue to report superannuation underpayments to the ATO,” they said. “This change complements the ATO’s powers, providing the strongest possible protection for employees against unpaid super.”.