In great news for workers, the Federal Government has listened to our calls and announced a wage subsidy scheme for businesses and workers affected by COVID-19.

This means all full-time, part-time and casual workers (casuals need to have been employed by more than 12 months) of eligible employers will receive this JobKeeper payment of $1500 a fortnight backdated to March 30.

This amount will be paid directly to employers, who will then have an obligation to pass this full payment onto employees.

For an employer to be eligible they must have seen a reduction in turnover of 30% due to the COVID-19 crisis (50% for employers who have $1 billion turnover or more). Not all employers will be eligible.

The SDA will be engaging with the Government on the details of this package to ensure fair access to this payment.

We are also working with employers on whether they are an eligible business and if so, how this will be implemented. We will update members once we have more information. You don’t need to do anything at this stage.

Employees can’t receive both the JobSeeker payment, through Centrelink, and the JobKeeper payment from your employer. If you are in receipt of the JobSeeker payment, you’ll need to work this through with Centrelink if your employer agrees they will pay you the JobKeeper payment.