The Federal Government has announced that the extension of the JobKeeper payment to March 2021 has passed parliament.
Initially scheduled to end in September, the JobKeeper payment has supported more than 900,000 business and 3.5 million workers to date.
The passage of the JobKeeper legislation will see an extension to the workplace flexibility that has been available for businesses receiving JobKeeper payments.
As previously reported by Ragtrader, the JobKeeper payment will move to a two-tiered system from September and will also be reduced from $1500 per fortnight to $1200.
The government has also adjusted the eligibility criteria for businesses to receive the payment for the extension periods.
As reported by the National Retail Association, for the period 28 September 2020 to 03 January 2021, employers will need to demonstrate that their actual GST turnover had fallen in the quarter ending 30 September 2020 by at least 30% (or 50% if their aggregated annual turnover of $1 billion or more).
For the period 04 January 2021 to 28 March 2021, employers will need to apply the same test for the quarter ending 31 December 2020.
The extension also furthers employers' ability to enact 'JobKeeper enabling directions' which allows them to direct their employees to reduce their hours of work, perform alternative duties, or work from a different location.
Legacy Employers
The JobKeeper amendments also create a new 'legacy employer' which allows employers that no longer quality for the support to issue a limited amount of 'JobKeeper enabling directions.'
According to the National Retail Association, to be eligible as a legacy employer, the business must have:
- previously participated in the JobKeeper Payment Scheme;
- experienced a decline in turnover of 10% during either the quarter ending 30 September or 31 December 2020; and
- obtained a certificate from a financial service provider confirming the decline in turnover for the quarter (unless they are a small business employer who makes a statutory declaration to that effect).
Once a certificate has been granted, a legacy employer may issue a JobKeeper enabling direction for the JobKeeper phase immediately following the quarter for which the certificate was obtained.
This means that if an employer has a certificate for the quarter ending 30 September 2020, they are able to issue a direction for the period 28 September 2020 to 3 January 2021.
The types of directions that may be issued by legacy employers are also reduced.
Directions issued by legacy employers must not result in an employee working less than 60% of their ordinary hours (as at 1 March 2020), or less than two consecutive hours on any day.
Prior to the direction taking effect, unless the employee agrees otherwise, they must be provided with at least seven days’ notice of a direction.
During this seven day window the employer is required to consult with the employee about the direction.
Under the amendments, the consultation must include:
- providing the employee with information about the nature of the direction, when it takes effect, and the expected effects of the direction on the employee; and
- inviting the employee or the employee’s representative (if any) to give their views about the impact of the proposed direction.