Former public servant loses super reinstatement claim

The Federal Court has upheld decisions by the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) and the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme denying the reinstatement of superannuation rights to a public servant who left the Australian Public Service and then rejoined around five years later.

A report in The Canberra Times said the former public servant, Patricia Anne Ludowyk, surrendered her super rights in favour of a $15,166.53 payout from the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (CSS) after she quit a 17-year career with the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1988, using the cash to buy an investment property she still owns.

She rejoined the public service in 1993 with a position at AusAid and was admitted to the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme. Three years later she attempted to reverse the payout and regain her surrendered entitlements, claiming she did not realise the benefits of preserving her rights or the implications of not having substantial superannuation on retirement.

Ludowyk argued she had not been provided with enough information to make an informed decision when she opted to take the cash payout, but her applications to the CSS and SCT over the past 16 years were repeatedly been dismissed on the basis she had consciously chosen the refund option for her super and had done so because it suited her plans to invest in real estate.

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The Canberra Times reported she then took the fight to the Federal Court, arguing the tribunal had made an error of law by not applying its own value judgment to her application and had not taken into account new evidence.

However Federal Court judge, Justice Lindsay Foster, this week published a judgement in which he said Ludowyk had failed to prove either of her claims and dismissed the case.

The report said Justice Foster had noted the now-retired public servant was ‘'obviously not a person who is incapable of absorbing information of the kind relevant to the decision which she made in the present case, or to assess which option she might take in light of that information''.

‘'She has a PhD from the ANU and has occupied positions of some significance in the Australian Public Service during her period of employment with that Service,'' Justice Foster's judgement said.