FF Urges Double Charged Business To Contact ACC

Federated Farmers Urges All Double Charged Business To Contact ACC

"Federated Farmers welcomes Dr Cullen's announcement that ACC will be required to reconsider all cases in which businesses believe they have been double charged", said Alistair Polson Federated Farmers President.

But this is only the first step. The next step is for Dr Cullen to instruct ACC to ensure that no business is charged twice for the same service. "I am of the considered view that ACC is deceiving the Minister when it says the law prevents it from refunding double payments", said Mr Polson.

"However in the end it doesn't matter whether or not the law needs to be changed, the Minister has the responsibility to fix problem and to ensure that the law is applied equitably", said Mr Polson.

The Minister misses the point when he blames the previous Government for the problem. While it is now clear that the past practices of both ACC and IRD are partly to blame, no one was aware of the potential for double dipping until last year. It is the current ACC Minister's responsibility to fix the problem - this is something Federated Farmers has been requesting for eight months.

ACC has admitted that it double charged but says that "it can't trace the victims so it cannot pay the money back". This blatantly untrue, said Mr Polson. "ACC is well aware of who the victims are, the majority are either currently disputing ACC's double charge or have lost their dispute on technical grounds".

"It is not that ACC cannot pay the money back but that they don't want to", said Mr Polson.

"It is a very easy job for ACC to determine who has been overcharged, said Mr Polson. Businesses that meet the following criteria have ALL been overcharged. They employed staff, they were in business on 31 March 1980 and continued in business until at least 1 July 1999, they underwent some degree of restructuring between 1980 and 1999 and they did not receive a cessation adjustment. These are the businesses that have paid twice. Identifying these businesses is easy and establishing that they had paid twice is relatively straight forward and known to ACC in most cases.

I strongly urge all double charged businesses to call ACC again on 0800 222 776 and for our members to call the federation.

ENDS

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