Yes. Superannuation is owed on all ordinary time earnings from the first dollar, for casual, part time and full time employees alike. The rate is 12%, paid by the employer on top of your wages rather than out of them.
Why do people still think there is a minimum before super starts?
Because there was one until 1 July 2022. An employer owed nothing on a month in which you earned under $450 with them, and casual backpackers with shifts scattered across several venues lost real money to it lawfully.
It is gone. Every dollar of ordinary time earnings now attracts the guarantee regardless of the monthly total: two shifts at one pub, a week of harvest work, a single trial period at a cafe all generate a super obligation. The one remaining exception is workers under 18, who still need to work more than 30 hours in a week before the guarantee applies.
Does casual status change anything?
No. The 25% casual loading and the 12% super guarantee are separate things that both apply, and an employer cannot treat the loading as covering the super. One shift a week generates super on that shift's earnings; five shifts generate super on all of them.
The confusion comes from the loading being described as compensation for what casuals do not get: paid leave and notice. Super is not on that list, and is paid to casuals on the same terms as anyone else.
What is super actually calculated on?
Ordinary time earnings, which is not everything on your payslip. It covers ordinary hours including casual loading, and generally penalty rates and allowances tied to ordinary hours, but excludes overtime paid at overtime rates.
A hospitality casual whose Sunday penalty hours are ordinary rostered hours should be accruing super on the loaded amount, not on a notional base rate. An employer calculating super on the base is underpaying it.
How do you tell whether it is actually being paid?
By checking the fund, not the payslip. A payslip line showing super states what the employer intends to pay, not that it arrived, and the two diverge more often than people realise.
Super is only required to be paid quarterly, by 28 October, 28 January, 28 April and 28 July, so a gap of a few weeks between the payslip and the money appearing is normal. A gap that survives the quarterly deadline is not. Comparing the fund's contribution history against your payslips for a full quarter settles it.
What happens to it when you leave?
It stays yours and is claimable as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment once your visa has ceased and you have left the country. The taxable component of a working holiday maker's DASP is taxed at 65%, which is the figure people find hardest to accept, but the alternative is receiving none of it.
Small balances from short casual stints are still worth claiming, and multiple balances can be dealt with together. Applications are commonly approved within about 28 days. Our superannuation guide covers the claim and its timing.
What is the specific risk for casual work across many employers?
Lost accounts. A casual working holiday maker who did not nominate a fund had one chosen for them at each employer, so four jobs is potentially four accounts, each quietly charging fees against a small balance.
Worse, contributions made before your TFN reached the fund often cannot be matched to you and end up held by the ATO rather than any fund. That money is recoverable but invisible, and it is the most common reason a departing backpacker's super is smaller than the payslips say. Our guide to finding lost superannuation covers how it is traced.
Did it reach a fund in your name?
Entitlement to super is not the variable. What you end up with is. Each fact below changes either how much was owed or how much reached a fund with your name on it.
- Whether you worked before or after 1 July 2022, since gaps in low earning months were lawful before that date.
- Whether you were an employee or engaged under an ABN, because a contractor generally receives no super at all.
- Whether super was calculated on ordinary time earnings including loading and penalties, or on a bare base rate.
- How many employers you had, since each one may have opened a separate account.
- Whether your TFN reached each fund, which decides whether contributions were matched to you or sent to the ATO.
- Whether your visa has ceased and you have departed, which is what makes the balance claimable.
Unpaid super and an unlodged return are usually found together, and the year is reconciled in the working holiday tax return.