New Stand Down Laws
From 9 April 2020 employers are able to utilise new stand down provisions arising from changes to the Fair Work Actin light of COVID-19. These changes are temporary and are currently stated to end on 28 September 2020.
Core Requirements
The new provisions enable employers to issue a “jobkeeper enabling stand down direction” to relevant employees where all of the following apply:
- the direction was given after the commencement of the new stand down laws to not work on a day(s) on which the employee would usually work, or to work for a lesser period than the period which the employee would ordinarily work on a particular day(s), or to work a reduced number of hours (compared with the employee’s ordinary hours of work)
- when the direction was given, the employer qualified for the jobkeeper scheme
- the employee cannot be usefully employed for the employee’s normal days or hours during the stand down period because of changes to business attributable to the COVID‑19 pandemic or government initiatives to slow the transmission of COVID‑19