Victorian teachers sue over alleged unpaid superannuation

Jill Perkins, a teacher with 40 years in the classroom, is ready to retire and pursue her hobbies. However, she believes she may have been short-changed on her superannuation, potentially losing nearly $10,000.

“

I want to explore trying to finish projects that I started that are all over the house and I want to try different things. I'm just letting myself play and have fun.

Perkins is the lead claimant in a class action filed in the Federal Court by the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union. The union is suing the Victorian Department of Education, alleging it failed to pay superannuation on the Salary Loading Allowance, an annual payment for teachers, from 1995 to 2023.

“

I really liked teaching. I liked being in the classroom. It was all those other burdens that in the end just wore me down … it's a full-on job.

The union estimates the total loss of contributions to be around $100 million, with an additional $300 million in lost investment earnings. "The Department of Education for many decades has decided that a salary loading allowance... shouldn't be being paid superannuation on top of that allowance," said AEU Victorian president Justin Mullaly. "We say that's wrong. We say that's unlawful."

“

Not enough to buy a new car, but a considerable enough sum that I thought that is something that could have been very helpful. It's quite an unfair thing to realise that we'd been underpaid.

The Australian Taxation Office has previously ruled that superannuation is payable on the allowance and ordered the department to pay. However, the department is appealing this decision in a separate court case. The AEU's action will proceed only after a judgment in that case. The department did begin making payments on the allowance in 2023.

“

The Department of Education for many decades has decided that a salary loading allowance, which is a payment that every worker in a public school receives, shouldn't be being paid superannuation on top of that allowance. We say that's wrong. We say that's unlawful. And so we've made an application to the Federal Court to sue the government for that superannuation.