The Workplace Relations Commission recommended that a public service organisation take steps to restore a former worker’s pensionable service from 2012 to 2017, or arrange alternative compensation if reinstatement was legally impossible. The recommendation, dated 10 November 2023, also called for the worker to make a modest voluntary contribution towards the cost.
The worker said she discovered on opting for early retirement in 2021 that the suspension had reduced her pension. She said management had not explained the pension effect or the option of making voluntary contributions. Her pay had been reduced to 75% during the suspension. The organisation said suspensions before 2017 were non-reckonable for superannuation under statutory rules, which it had to follow.
The adjudication officer described the nearly ten-year suspension as exceptional in an employment context and said the missing pension years appeared best resolved through management intervention. The officer also said the worker was not without responsibility for being unaware of the superannuation issue. The recommendation allows for a modest contribution from her, in line with ordinary buy-back arrangements.