JobKeeper Overview - your options

Deborah Peppard - HR Director

Unfortunately, the introduction of Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne has seen additional businesses that had not qualified for Job Keeper earlier, now become eligible.  We are aware that many of these businesses had been doing okay during the last few months, so have not had to pay much attention to the Job Keeper legislation and what can and can’t be done……

​To help those businesses out, and also remind everyone else of what additional options you have available under the JobKeeper Enabling Directions legislation, here is a quick snapshot for you:

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JOBKEEPER ENABLING DIRECTIONS

• You can direct people to work reduced hours, including zero hours (there is a requirement to consult with people on best days / times that work for both parties as far as possible)
• You can request that people take a period of annual leave, and they cannot unreasonably refuse to do so (you cannot use their last 2 weeks of leave, except at their request. If they do request this, get in in writing)
• You can direct people to undertake different tasks than they are employed to do (i.e. you can ask people to do anything that will support the business – clean / stocktake / file  and so on)
• You can direct people to work from a different location that they usually would (including from home)

Secondly, there are a number of ways that you can apply the Job Keeper wage subsidy and it’s based on what your business needs:

• You can have people working their normal hours and being paid as normal. The JobKeeper amount just helps you with their pay.
• You can reduce people’s hours and just pay based on what they need to work – with the JobKeeper contributing to this.
• You can reduce people’s hours to just the hours JobKeeper covers, so that you don’t need to provide any top up (for example, someone on $70k per annum works out to be $35.43 per hour, so if you only wanted them to work hours that JobKeeper will cover, they will work only 21 hours per week)
• You can reduce people’s hours to ZERO and just provide the JobKeeper payment (if you have no useful work for them to do).  Note that superannuation is ONLY payable on any actual hours worked.
• You can reduce people to the JobKeeper amount for working hours and if they need to supplement their income, they can request to use AL entitlements for some/ rest of the days and this is permitted if you have the cashflow to agree

You can reduce people to just the days that JobKeeper covers, let’s say 21 hours – and then request that they use their annual leave for some or all of these hours (i.e.; say you have no useful work for someone to do but JobKeeper covers 21 hours per week – you can request them to use 21 hours per week of AL, but you have to make sure they keep 2 weeks ‘in the bank’). Employees cannot ‘unreasonably refuse’ to use this annual leave.  Note that in all circumstances you must accrue annual leave, sick leave and Long Service Leave entitlements in line with their normal working hours. 

With these additional options, we hope that the use of the Job Keeper wage subsidies assists you in keeping your business afloat during these difficult times. 

Also, remember that you can only have your employees work outside their home if your business is a ‘permitted worksite’ and in those cases, you must provide any relevant employees with a worker permit to eave the house to attend work. 

If you have any questions or need help navigating JobKeeper or stage 4 restrictions, don’t hesitate to reach out to HR Staff n’ Stuff. We are here to help. 

Contact HR Staff n' Stuff and speak with a HR CONULTANT NOW