16 December 2013

Did you miss out on the CSS or PSS super? It might not be too late

| johnboy
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The largess of the old Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme and Public Sector Superannuation Scheme are the stuff of legend and considerable boasting by those lucky enough to have got onto it in time.

Today the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Raymond Knight who missed out on the scheme due to predictably awful management of ACT Forestry in the 1970s.

The ABC has the tale of another one of these cases:

ACT Supreme Court Justice Richard Refshauge found in November that Mr Meredith was eligible for membership to the superannuation scheme, but the settlement amount has only just been released.

Justice Refshauge also found in favour of three other former forestry workers who worked for the Commonwealth from the 1970s and had been denied access to the scheme, despite repeated inquiries.

He says they were the victims of negligent misstatement.

The upshot is that if you might have been eligible to join these schemes you really should be checking what you could be entitled to.

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During my microscopically brief career in the APS I contributed a grand or so to the CSS. When I left never to return I was given a couple of options regarding what I could do with the money. I didn’t give a rats about super at the time, because I was more interested in chasing girls and drinking, so I left it where it was because that was the easiest thing to do.

That small contribution has turned into nearly $60K in the intervening period, and will eventually provide a small but noticeable pension when I retire, which will be used to fund the occasional luxury . Another example is my brother in law who was a senior APS legal officer. He is only a few years older than me and was in the CSS, and he recently retired to a life of great ease as a relatively young man.

The whole thing was unsustainable of course. No wonder they shut it down.

troll-sniffer5:30 pm 17 Dec 13

MERC600 said :

I see a bloke got 800 odd K from our mickey mouse court. I suspect an appeal to the big court on the lake.

Why? He was wrongly advised, the commonwealth was found to be at fault, he got what he would have got if he had been advised correctly. I don’t see either grounds for appeal or anything wrong with the judgement, especially when the amount is less than many shinybums get as a matter of course.

I see a bloke got 800 odd K from our mickey mouse court. I suspect an appeal to the big court on the lake.

rigseismic678:44 am 17 Dec 13

I used to work at an agency that had a similar problem, although it was Commonwealth. The employees were employed as casuals for the duration of 11 month field trips each year, then discharged on return to Canberra at Christmas each year. 20 years later they claimed they were told they could not join the CSS at the time of Casual employment.
The courts found in their favor and they had the CSS payments backdated. These employees stayed on to be permanent.
I wonder if they ever made their own contributions ???

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