Former Qantas pilot takes his fight to have his super recalculated to the Federal Court

A former Qantas pilot has taken his fight to have his super recalculated to the Federal Court after the Australian Financial Complaints Authority backed the original methodology.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority backed the way Qantas Superannuation Ltd calculated the former Qantas pilot’s superannuation.

A former commercial pilot alleges Qantas Superannuation miscalculated his defined benefit and underpaid him.

Peter Muffet is attempting to appeal against a decision by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority which backed the way Qantas Superannuation Ltd – a separate entity to Qantas – calculated his entitlements.

Mr Muffet was retrenched in December 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic when domestic and international travel was largely suspended.

The matter was heard in the NSW Federal Court on Wednesday, where Mr Muffet’s barrister, Vahan Bedrossian, SC, said the fund annualised his salary by taking his fortnightly salary and multiplying it by 26 weeks.

Instead, Mr Bedrossian argued it should have calculated his actual earnings within a 365-day period, or based on a daily rate.

“There have been contributions on his behalf into (a) super fund for a full year’s worth of salary,” Mr Bedrossian said.

“Yet when it comes to calculating money to come back … somehow it is suggested a shorter period of time should be the reference point.”

He agreed the difference was likely to be “marginal”, after revealing Mr Muffet’s final average salary was calculated at $218,000.

Dominique Hogan-Doran, SC, for Qantas Superannuation said super salary was not the amount in the “pocket of members”.

“It is the information about the pay or salary to be paid to a member; that information that must be provided to the trustee,” she said.

“Not every aspect of every dollar … is relevant and is to be taken into account to define the entitled benefit.”

The court heard Mr Muffet was a member of the defined benefit plan, which was closed to new staff in 2003. It means the former commercial pilot had at least worked with Qantas for 20 years at the time of his retrenchment.

Mr Muffet’s final average salary was the greater of the highest average annual superannuation salary calculated over any consecutive three complete financial years, ending June 30 in the most recent 10-year period, and the average annual superannuation salary over the three years of service immediately prior to leaving the Qantas Group.

The benefit was not linked to the amount of employer contributions or investments performance of those contributions, the court heard.

Qantas Airways Ltd is not a party to the matter, which was adjourned for judgment on Wednesday afternoon.

Originally published as Former Qantas pilot takes his fight to have his super recalculated to the Federal Court