Members

With a Protect Termination Account, you can claim a payment from your account if you leave
your employer for any reason

Termination

Termination - Protect: Severance and Income Protection benefits

If your severance entitlement is administered as a Protect Termination Account, you (or your beneficiaries) will be eligible to claim a payment from your account if:

  • you leave a Protect employer for any reason - including if you resign, your employment is terminated, your contract ends or your job is made redundant
  • you leave the industry, you become self employed, your new employer does not have an EBA obligation to Protect, or you change jobs and are employed in an above-Award position (not on the tools) with a new employer; or
  • you retire and are at least 55 years old; or
  • you die.

Initial severance claim
You can make an initial claim of up to $5,000 from your Protect Termination Account if you leave a Protect employer for any reason.

To make an initial claim, you will need to complete a Protect Termination Account claim form or you can contact us and we will send you a copy. You also need to ensure your employer completes the employer declaration section of the form, confirming that you are no longer employed by that employer.

Alternatively, your employer can complete a separate Employer Advice form notifying Protect that you have left your employment or you can provide a Centrelink Separation Certificate to Protect. If you are unable to obtain a declaration confirming you have left your employer, contact us for assistance

If you are over 55 and retired or you die, there is no waiting period or initial claim limit. You or your beneficiaries can immediately claim all the money in your Protect Termination Account, after submitting a Protect severance claim form and the required documentation to Protect.Contact Protect for assistance.


Subsequent severance claim
If you are unemployed after leaving a Protect employer and you remain out of work for four consecutive weeks from the date you left, you can then claim any money remaining in your Termination Account in one or more payments.

To make a subsequent claim, you must complete a Protect statutory declaration.

If you leave the industry, become self-employed, your new employer does not have an EBA obligation to Protect, or you change jobs and are employed in an above-Award position by your new employer, you can generally only claim any money remaining in your Protect Termination Account after a 39 week waiting period.

Current taxation rates*
If you leave a Protect employer (including if you change jobs and are employed in an above-Award position by your new employer), payments from your Protect Termination Account are currently taxed at a rate of 30% plus the 1.5% Medicare Levy.

If you die, payments from your Protect severance account are generally not taxed if the beneficiaries are your dependants or your Estate. If your beneficiaries are not your financial dependants, the payment from your account will generally be taxed at a rate of 30% plus the 1.5% Medicare levy.

*Severance payments above $165,000 (taxation limit for 2011/12) are taxed at a rate of 45% plus the 1.5% Medicare levy.

Note: Taxation rates are correct at the time of publication; these rates may change in the future. The severance payment limit ($165,000 for 2011/12) is indexed annually in line with AWOTE and rounded down to the nearest multiple of $5,000.