Part-time employment

If you work part-time, your unit entitlement and contributions are adjusted on a pro rata basis. Your adjusted unit entitlement is determined with reference to the equivalent full-time salary for the position after applying a deduction factor.

It is important to realise that a reduction in unit entitlement for periods of part-time employment is permanent and will reduce the amount of the benefit you would otherwise have received if you had worked full-time throughout your membership.

If you change the hours that you work (such as from full-time to part-time), then a salary ratio factor is applied to your SANCS basic benefit service accrual rate.

For example: if a member employed full-time changes their working hours to half the normal hours of their position (and earns half the full-time salary), a salary ratio of 0.5 is applied to reduce the basic benefit service entitlement to six months (that is, 1 year of service x 0.5 salary ratio).

The value of any applicable Additional Employer Contribution (AEC) is also calculated based on the salary ratio.

The full-time equivalent salary is used to calculate the final average salary so as not to disadvantage the member for service days accrued at the full-time rate.

For more information, please refer to SSS Fact Sheet 4: Part-time employment and part-time leave without pay.