New South Wales Consolidated Acts

FIRST STATE SUPERANNUATION ACT 1992 - SECT 4

4 Meaning of “salary or wages”

(1) For the purposes of this Act, the "salary or wages" of an employee is:

(a) in the case of an employee who is not an executive officer, the total of:

(i) earnings in respect of ordinary hours of work, and

(ii) earnings consisting of over-award payments, shift-loading or commission, and

(iii) allowances and other payments of a kind prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection, and

(iv) if employment benefits of a kind prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection are provided to the employee, the cost of providing the employment benefits, or

(b) in the case of an employee who is an executive officer, the salary or wages as last nominated or changed in accordance with this section.

(1A) A regulation made for the purposes of subsection (1) (a) (iii) or (iv):

(a) may only be made with the concurrence of the Treasurer, and

(b) may apply to all employees who are not executive officers, or to specified employees or classes of employees who are not executive officers.

(2) An amount of salary or wages for the purposes of this Act must be nominated to the employer of an employee who is an executive officer by the employee on, or as soon as practicable after, becoming an employee or being appointed as an executive officer (whichever occurs first). An amount may also be nominated to the employer by the employee on, or as soon as practicable after, being reappointed, or appointed to another position, as an employee.

(3) The amount nominated is to be not less than:

(a) the monetary remuneration payable to the employee at the date of nomination, or

(b) the maximum contribution base, within the meaning of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 of the Commonwealth, applicable at that time,

whichever is the lower.

(4) The amount nominated is to be not more than the total value of the remuneration package paid to the employee (less the cost of providing employer’s contributions to superannuation and any performance-related incentive payment), expressed as an annual rate.

(5) If the employee fails to nominate an amount of salary or wages within 28 days after first becoming an employee or being appointed as an executive officer (whichever occurs first) or within such further period as the trustee may allow, the employee is taken to have nominated an amount of salary or wages that is equal to the monetary remuneration payable to the employee at the end of the applicable period.

(6) An employee who is an executive officer may, from time to time, by notice to the employee’s employer elect to reduce the amount of salary or wages nominated under this section, but not so that the amount is less than the monetary remuneration payable to the employee at the date of the election.

(7) An employee who is an executive officer may, from time to time, by notice to the employee’s employer elect to increase the amount of salary or wages nominated under this section, but not so as to increase the amount nominated by a percentage of that amount that is more than the percentage by which the remuneration package of the employee has increased since the amount of the salary or wages was last nominated or changed.

(8) An employer must notify the trustee of a nomination or election under this section. Any such nomination or election takes effect on the date of notification to the trustee or on such other date as the trustee may determine with the consent of the employee concerned.

(9) Nothing in this section requires the nominated amount of salary or wages to be increased if, because of a variation in the remuneration package of an employee or in the proportions of the remuneration package comprising monetary remuneration and employment benefits of the employee, the amount of salary or wages as last nominated or changed for the purposes of this section is less than the monetary remuneration of the employee.

(10) In this section:
"employment benefit" means a benefit provided to an employee at the cost of the employee’s employer (being a benefit of a private nature).
"trustee" means the trustee of the superannuation scheme or approved deposit fund, or the provider of the retirement savings account, to which the compulsory employer superannuation contributions are payable.