00:02Looking over letters from the Australian Taxation Office and finding few answers.
00:08I didn't realise that I wasn't getting paid until one of the other ladies left and she,
00:14I had heard that she hadn't been paid through another employee.
00:18And so that's when I looked at mine and I said well hang on I haven't been paid either.
00:22The ATO agreed Pauline and Angela were owed thousands of dollars in superannuation by their former employer
00:28and the agency would start efforts to recoup that money.
00:32But 18 months later neither have received a single dollar back or been given any further information.
00:38All I ever used to get was no we can't give you any information because it's an invasion of privacy.
00:44I wasn't asking for financial details or anything like that.
00:47I just wanted to know when I could maybe possibly think about getting that superannuation paid to me.
00:54I have come to the conclusion I'm probably not ever going to get my super paid from him at this
00:59point.
01:00And the ATO don't seem to be really going into bat and doing anything about recovering that either.
01:05It's such a problem some major superannuation funds have hired private firms to help recoup money owed to members.
01:12We'll try and contact the employer as soon as we can to find out if there is any super payments
01:18overdue.
01:20Our experience has largely seen that the ATO if they are going to intervene it's much further down the track.
01:26The ATO declined our request for an interview but in a statement told us it is serious about ensuring employers
01:32comply with their super obligations
01:35and dedicate significant resources to recovering debt.
01:39They also pointed to their data which shows 92% of super contributions by dollar value are paid voluntarily by
01:46employers.
01:47But industry experts say that figure hides the on the ground impact where one in four workers often in low
01:54paid jobs are shortchanged on their super.
01:57With payday super now live there's hope for better results.
02:01It's really important that we see payday super laws having been passed now matched with that much better proactive action
02:08from the regulator to ensure that that follow through is done.
02:12But for those with debt from years prior it's not enough.
02:16It doesn't look like they're recouping our super from where we sit. There's no resolution, there's silence, there's nothing.
02:24I'd like partial penalties and more transparency.
02:28Two of millions of workers waiting for what they're owed.
