The Covid-19 Leave Support Scheme and Covid-19 Short Term Absence Payment is available to employers or self-employed people to help pay wages. There’s no revenue test, and these payments are not a Wage Subsidy.
Short Term Absence
The COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment is available for businesses, including self-employed people, to help pay their employees who cannot work from home while they wait for a COVID-19 test result.
The Covid-19 Short-Term Absence Payment is a one-off payment of $359 for each eligible worker, available once in any 30-day period (unless a health official or doctor tells the employee to get another test).
Eligibility:
To be eligible for a one-off Short-Term Absence Payment your employee will be waiting for: their Covid-19 test result; or
the Covid-19 test result of a dependent; or
where the employee is a household member or secondary contact of a close contact (as described in public health guidelines), the COVID-19 test result of the close contact.
The Covid-19 Short-Term Absence Payment is not available in conjunction with the Covid-19 Leave Support Scheme.
Covid-19 Leave support scheme
The COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme is available to employers, including self-employed people, to help pay their employees who have been advised to self-isolate because of COVID-19 and can’t work at home during that period.
The Covid-19 Leave Support Scheme is paid at the rate of $600.00 a week for full time employees who were working 20 hours or more a week. $359 a week is paid for part-time employees working less than 20 hours a week.
Eligibility:
To be eligible for a one-week payment of Leave Support Scheme your employee will have been advised to self-isolate for at least four consecutive calendar days and can’t work from home.
If your employee needs to keep self-isolating for at least 11 calendar days or more and can’t work from home, you can apply for a second week payment of the Leave Support Scheme.
You can apply for subsequent Leave support payments for every further seven days of self-isolation.
The Covid-19 Leave Support Scheme is not available in conjunction with the Covid-19 Short-Term Absence Payment.
You can see the Leave Support Scheme declaration for further eligibility criteria and obligations here.
Paying employees
If you have claimed a Covid-19 payment for an employee, you must use your best endeavors to pay either the employees ordinary wages or at least 80% if agreed to in writing first.
If you can’t do that, you must have an agreement with your employee in writing that their wages will be the amount of the support payment. If the employee’s normal wages are below the amount of the subsidy, they must be paid the amount of their ordinary wages.
Covid-19 leave is difficult for both employers and employees, therefore, it is important to act in good faith and come to an agreement suitable for both parties.
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