Managing employees during COVID-19 for Australian business #JobKeeper

The most common questions asked lately have related to employees and what it means as an employer during COVID-19. We've summarised information across FairWork, Services Australia and the Treasury to give you an understanding of what options are available to you and your people including the latest on the JobKeeper subsidy

Common scenarios to consider for your employees

If your employee is required to self-isolate after travel, or has been in contact with someone with COVID-19, but isn't sick yet themselves

technically they aren't entitled to take sick/carer's (personal) leave without being sick or looking after someone who is
you could allow them to work from home
they could take other leave available (annual, long service, or other leave entitlements under awards, EBAs or contracts)
if you allow an employee to take sick leave when they aren't sick - you may be in breach of the National Employment Standards (NES) even if they agree

If your employee or their family member is sick with coronavirus

you can direct them to not come to work (acting reasonably and based on facts about health and safety risks)
full time and part time employees can take paid personal leave
you can't make them take personal leave, but your employee isn't entitled to be paid unless they use their paid leave entitlements
if they have no paid sick or carer's leave left, they can take unpaid personal leave
employees are still obligated to provide reasonable evidence of illness or unexpected emergency if you ask
you can't dismiss them because of their temporary absence due to illness or injury

If your employee can't attend work because their child's school or childcare is closed due to COVID-19

they can use paid personal leave to take time off for a family emergency
you can agree for them to work from home, take annual leave, take other leave (such as long service leave), or come to an agreement on leave (such as extended annual leave at half pay)

If your employee might have contracted COVID-19 and still wants to come into work

you have a duty of care to provide and maintain - and your employee has a duty to take reasonable care for their health and safety and that of others
discuss it with your employee, and ask them to get medical clearance
best-practice is that you pay the employee for this period
if they test positive they can take personal leave during their absence

If your employees have the ability to work from home

make sure that the work you want them to do is suitable to be done from home
check your obligations under any awards, enterprise agreements, contracts and policies before asking them to do so
explore whether their work space at home meets WHS standards (do an assessment)
discuss and agree to any measures to put in place
understand any risks to your business in terms of technology, cyber security, cost, equipment, etc
ensure that they are covered by worker's compensation insurance

When can I stand people down?

If they cannot be 'usefully employed' because of a stoppage of work that you couldn't reasonably be responsible for

government forcing businesses closed is an example of a trigger event
standing down is temporary - they are still your employee
you aren't required to pay employees during the period of a stand down
they still accrue leave as normal
some awards and agreements have conditions around notifying or consulting your employees prior to issuing a stand down
it's best practice to inform them - the start date of the stand down, whether they will or will not be paid and the effect on other employment entitlements

Even though stand down periods are unpaid, you might want to consider other options first -

using people in other areas of your business
allowing them to take paid leave (such as annual or long service) if requested
allowing alternative leave arrangements like extended annual leave at half pay, or early long service leave (if permitted)

This is a basic overview. If you're considering a stand down, the best recommendation is to chat with a HR professional (we can recommend some)

What if I choose to let them go?

If you end someone's employment, they may be entitled to notice, redundancy pay, and any entitlements owed (like annual leave). Check the awards, agreements and your employment contracts

On issuing their final pay, you can provide a separation certificate that they can take to ServicesAustralia to apply for JobSeeker payments ↓

What are the JobKeeper benefits?

If you had employees on the books as at March 1 and your turnover has dropped by 30%

it's a flat $1500 per fortnight per employee - based on 70% of the median wage here in Australia
it will be available to full-time, part-time, sole traders and casuals who have been with their employer for 12 months
available to employees terminated since March 1
businesses can apply if their turnover has fallen by 30% or more since the coronavirus crisis hit
payments will start to be issued from May 1, and be backdated to today
you will be required to pay employees at least $1,500 per fortnight before tax
you won't be able to get JobKeeper and JobSeeker - they are looking at a way to transition from JobSeeker to JobKeeper
if you are self-employed, you will need to provide a monthly update to the ATO through a portal
managed by the ATO - and linked through Single Touch Payroll (STP)

What are the JobSeeker benefits?

Under the stimulus package, the government -

temporarily expanded the eligibility for JobSeeker and Youth Allowance for JobSeeker
applied a bonus payment of $550 per fortnight
suspended the mutual obligations (which means JobSeekers won't be penalised for not showing up to appointments or applying for work)

From April 27, people will be eligible if they are -

a permanent employee who has been stood down
a sole trader, self-employed, casual worker or contract worker earning less than $1,075 a fortnight
caring for someone with COVID-19

read the treasury notes on JobSeeker

We're certainly not a full bottle on the JobSeeker side. The thing to note is that employees who are stood down are eligible for the expanded JobSeeker payments

Early access to superannuation

Up to $10,000 this FY, and $10,000 next FY available to people who -

are unemployed
are eligible for JobSeeker payments or some other unemployment benefits
were made redundant on or after Jan 1 2020
had their working hours reduced by 20% or more
are a sole trader and your business was suspended or there was a reduction in your turnover of 20% or more

The interesting thing there, is that with the changes to the Clerks award ↓ you can reduce the hours of your employees by up to 25% and they would then become eligible to draw down on their super

Again. We can't make recommendations here. I suggest you look into the different options available to your employees to understand how things will impact them!

FairWork updated the Hospitality and Clerks awards last week to add flexibility for employers

Some of the measures brought into the Clerks award -

you can ask your employees to do work outside of their usual role that they have the skills for
part time and casuals who have agreed to work from home can have their minimum hours reduced from 3 to 2 hours per shift
you can temporarily reduce permanent employees' hours down to 75% of their existing agreed hours (to do this, 75% of your employees will need to vote in favour of it)
you can direct an employee to take annual leave with 1 weeks notice (or shorter if agreed)
if the annual leave is because the business is closing down from coronavirus and the employee doesn't have annual leave, you can direct them to take unpaid leave

These measures apply for pay periods on or after March 28 until 30 June, and may be extended

Best thing to do is keep an eye on the FairWork website for changes. I'd imagine we'll see them bringing in similar measures into other awards. Stay tuned!

The thing i'd like you to take away from this - is to assess the whole picture and understand your options, and those of your employees

The key is to talk to your employees openly about where things are at, and see what you can agree to do together during these times. And check FairWork and talk to us if you have questions or would like to be introduced to our HR people to discuss your specific situation