What it means for qualifying and legacy employers 2 min read
The Federal Government's JobKeeper scheme is due to be entirely phased out from 29 March 2021. Here we provide an update to our previous Insight in relation to the changes to the JobKeeper scheme.
How does it affect you?
- JobKeeper employee wage subsidies will cease, and qualifying and legacy employers will generally be unable to change their employees' work hours, usual duties or place of work.
- Qualifying and legacy employers of full- and part-time employees need to be aware that they will no longer be able to make agreements or directions under the temporary provisions, and any agreements or directions made under them will become ineffective. Unless employers can rely on the Fair Work Act's regular stand down provisions, further changes to work hours will require an employee's consent and may be subject to requirements under relevant industrial instruments (eg a modern award or enterprise agreement).
- Qualifying and legacy employers of casual employees generally retain the right to unilaterally vary a casual employee's work hours.
As JobKeeper subsidies end, some employers may be considering a restructure of their workforces to reduce their labour costs to respond to market conditions. Look out for our upcoming webinar on restructures and redundancy on 18 February 2021, where we will discuss issues that will be relevant to businesses when implementing restructures and redundancies.