August 2020
On 7 August 2020, the Government announced that employees employed on 1 July 2020 who were not eligible on 1 March (i.e. because they had not met the 12 months casual employment period or who have been employed since 1 March) are now eligible for JobKeeper from the JobKeeper fortnight commencing 3 August 2020.
This would ordinarily mean that the $1,500 per fortnight wage condition for those employees would need to have been met for the JobKeeper fortnight that ended Sunday 16 August 2020.
However, the ATO announced on Friday 14 August 2020 that for the fortnights commencing on 3 August 2020 and 17 August 2020, they will allow employers until 31 August 2020 to meet the $1,500 per fortnight wage condition for all new eligible employees included in the JobKeeper scheme under the 1 July eligibility test.
Importantly, the $1,500 per fortnight wage condition extension only applies to those new eligible employees included in the JobKeeper scheme under the 1 July eligibility test. For all existing employees eligible for the scheme in previous fortnights, the wage condition must still be met by 16 August 2020 and 30 August 2020.
If you need further information or advice specific to your circumstances, please get in touch with the team at Cutcher & Neale.
