In a four-yearly review of the Supported Employment Services Award 2010 (SES Award), the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has agreed to a new provision that will take effect on October 1, 2020.
The SES Award currently provides that the superannuation contributions for employees with disabilities being paid less than $450 a month will be either 3 per cent of their ordinary time earnings or $6 per week, whichever is the greater. The United Workers Union (UWU) applied for this to be changed so that such employees receive superannuation contributions of 9.5 per cent or $15 a week, whichever is the greater.
The Full Bench of the FWC decided to grant this claim, since the existing provision results in no appreciable retirement benefits for persons with disabilities once fees for administration and required insurance products are taken into account.
“The UWU has successfully campaigned for new provisions to be introduced in 2020. This is a huge win for disability workers on the SES Award. Currently, workers with disability had their superannuation balances eaten away by fees and extra premiums for contingencies like disability which wasn’t fair and didn’t make sense,” UWU national secretary Tim Kennedy said.
In addition, Australian Super has made a change to its default super option by putting in place a no insurance default option for workers with disability. This will significantly decrease their fees.
“This is a great achievement for these workers. It is also good to see the industry super funds stepping up and doing the right thing by their members,” Kennedy said.
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