Once again, Government has announced changes to the JobKeeper scheme, and some eligibility rules relaxed.  

The relevant date of employment was reset to 1 July 2020 instead of 1 March 2020 and below is an update with reference to eligibility criteria for employees under the existing Jobkeeper scheme applicable for the period ending 27 September 2020.

We are not going into the detail of the requirements under the extension period as it is covered in a separate article.

Eligible Employees

Businesses that have experienced the 30% (or 50%) reduction in turnover can receive a subsidy payment for each employee that meets the following key criteria:

• the employee was employed by the business as at 1 July 2020;
• the employee is currently employed, was stood down or has been re-hired by the employer;
• the employee is a full-time, part-time, or long-term casuals (a casual employed on a regular basis for longer than 12 months as at 1 July 2020);
• the employee is either an Australian citizen, Permanent resident, Protected Special Category Visa holder, Non-protected Special Category Visa Holder residing continually in Australia for more than 10 years, Special Category (Subclass 444) Visa Holder as at 1 July 2020;
• the employee is not receiving any other Jobkeeper payment

Sole Traders

Self-employed individuals will also be able to access the Jobkeeper payment as long as they are able to demonstrate the reduction in turnover.

The above conditions highlight that many casual and new full time or part time employees engaged by the business after 1 March 2020 might become eligible for the four fortnights in August and September and employer obligations is as follows:

• Ensure that each eligible employee receives at least $1,500 per fortnight before tax (ie Payments are subject to PAYGW) for the fortnights in August and September;
• Employees that normally receive more than this minimum payment must have their wages topped-up by their employer to meet the terms of their current workplace arrangements;
• Notify your eligible employees that you are intending to claim the Jobkeeper payment on their behalf by providing each employee a Jobkeeper Employee Nomination Notice and ensuring it is promptly completed and returned
• Provide the ATO with information on the employees that are eligible to receive the payment. (Single Touch Payroll data will be used to pre-populate the employee details for most businesses.)

As always, it goes without saying that we are happy to assist with determining the eligibility in accordance with the above changes and reporting on your behalf.

Written for you by Aarthy Kumar