New South Wales Consolidated Acts

SUPERANNUATION ACT 1916 - SECT 3A

3A Salary

(1) For the purposes of this Act, "salary", in relation to a contributor (other than an executive officer) means the sum of:

(a) the remuneration, salary or wages payable in money to the contributor in the contributor’s capacity as a contributor, as reported to STC from time to time by the contributor’s employer, including:

(i) a loading in respect of any shift allowance, as determined by or under this Act, and

(ii) other allowances payable in money that are of a kind included within the value of leave paid on termination of employment, and

(iii) weekly workers compensation paid to the contributor as from a date determined by STC under subsection (1B),

but not including the excluded amounts or allowances referred to in subsection (2), and

(a1) if salary sacrifice contributions are made in respect of the contributor, the amounts payable for those contributions under section 10U (3) (a) and (b), and

(b) if approved employment benefits are provided to the contributor, the cost of providing the approved employment benefits, as determined by the Minister, with the concurrence of the Treasurer.

(1A) The weekly workers compensation to be treated as salary for the purposes of this Act does not include any amount by which the aggregate of:

(a) the weekly workers compensation paid to an injured contributor, and

(b) the salary actually paid to that contributor while partially incapacitated,

exceeds the salary that the contributor would probably have been earning but for the injury (assuming the contributor had continued to be employed in the same or some comparable employment).

(1B) STC may determine a date as from which weekly workers compensation paid to a contributor is to be treated as salary for the purposes of this Act, being a date not earlier than:

(a) 21 December 1984, or

(b) if the liability to pay weekly workers compensation in respect of the contributor first arose on a date later than 21 December 1984-that later date.

(1C) Despite subsection (1), the regulations may provide that the "salary" of an employee or class of employees (other than an executive officer) for the purposes of this Act is to be determined in the manner prescribed by the regulations.

(1D) A regulation may be made under subsection (1C) only if the Minister and the Treasurer certify in writing that:

(a) there has been a change in the basis on which the remuneration of the employee or class of employees is determined, and

(b) the effect of that change is to change the basis of remuneration to an annualised one, and

(c) the effect of the regulation is not to reduce the benefits that would have accrued under this Act to the employee or class of employees, had there been no change in the basis of remuneration, and

(d) the making of the regulation and associated arrangements will not result in a greater financial cost to the Government than if the regulation and associated arrangements were not made.

(2) The excluded amounts or allowances are:

(a) an amount paid for overtime or as a bonus, or an allowance instead of overtime,

(b) except to the extent determined in accordance with Schedule 24, as referred to in subsection (1) (a)-an amount paid as shift allowance,

(c) except to the extent that this section otherwise provides-a relieving allowance,

(d) an expense allowance or an allowance for travelling, subsistence or other expenses,

(e) an equipment allowance,

(e1) in respect of any period during which the contributor takes extended leave (or leave in the nature of extended leave) otherwise than on full pay, such part of the remuneration received by the contributor as exceeds the salary (within the meaning of subsection (1)) that he or she would have received had he or she taken leave on full pay,

(f) an amount paid for rent or as a residence, housing or quarters allowance, and

(g) an amount of weekly workers compensation excluded by subsection (1A).

(3) If a contributor’s employer, or a person authorised to do so on behalf of the employer, certifies in writing to STC that a relieving allowance to be, or being, paid to the contributor in the contributor’s capacity as an employee is likely to be paid for a continuous period of 1 year (whether or not the period is partly before the date of the certificate), the allowance is, as from:

(a) the date on which the certificate is lodged with STC, or

(b) the date from which the allowance becomes payable,

whichever is the later, salary for the purposes of this Act.

(4) If a relieving allowance has been paid to a contributor in the contributor’s capacity as an employee for a continuous period of 1 year that ends after the commencement of this section and, during that period, the allowance has not been treated as part of the contributor’s salary in accordance with subsection (3), the allowance shall, as from the expiration of that period of 1 year, be treated as part of the contributor’s salary while its payment to the contributor continues.

(4A) For the purposes of subsection (4), a reference to a continuous period of 1 year is in relation to a contributor who is employed in an educational institution to be read as a reference to the academic year of the institution.

(5) In this section:
"academic year", in relation to an educational institution, means a continuous period commencing on the first day of any academic term of the institution and ending on the day before the first day of the corresponding academic term in the following calendar year.
"approved employment benefit" means a benefit provided to a contributor at the cost of the contributor’s employer (being a benefit of a private nature) that is approved by the Minister, with the concurrence of the Treasurer, for the purposes of this section in relation to the contributor or a class of employees of which the contributor is a member.
"shift allowance" means an allowance paid to an employee in respect of shift work performed by the employee, and includes amounts paid as penalty rates.
"weekly workers compensation", in relation to a contributor, means weekly payments of compensation under the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (or the provisions of the Workers Compensation Act 1926 as applied by that Act) payable to the contributor because the contributor is partially incapacitated for work through injury.

(6) Any allowances or other kinds of remuneration treated as salary immediately before the commencement of this section in relation to a contributor shall continue to be treated as salary for the purposes of this Act, but only in relation to that contributor.