The Federal Government has expanded the eligibility criteria for employees to qualify for JobKeeper 1.0, to make it easier for more employees to qualify for JobKeeper payments.

As a result, employers must by Friday 21 August 2020 urgently revisit their employee’s eligibility for JobKeeper 1.0 to ensure your business stays eligible under the one-in-all-in rule and to maximise your JobKeeper entitlements.

The new changes are retrospective, meaning employers with newly eligible employees will be able to take advantage of the new change from the JobKeeper Payment fortnight commencing 3 August 2020.

Employers currently enrolled in JobKeeper 1.0 need to take the following action as a matter of urgency:

• Review and identify any newly eligible employees (employees who did not satisfy the basic employee eligibility criteria at 1 March 2020 but do now satisfy the criteria under the new amended rules);
• By Friday, 21 August 2020: Provide all newly eligible employees with a JobKeeper nomination form, and ensure the completed form is received from the employee. The JobKeeper Employee Nomination Notice (1 July employees only) can be downloaded from the ATO website at www.ato.gov.au/assets/0/104/300/362/561f35fc-a8aa-46d2-8c76-e334d24baaad.pdf.
   
• By Monday 31 August 2020: Check you have paid the minimum amounts to all eligible employees, including newly eligible employees who have completed and returned a JobKeeper nomination form, and make any necessary ‘top up’ payments where required. 
• Notify the ATO Commissioner in the approved form, of information about the newly nominated individuals.

Jobkeeper Eligibility: One-in, all-in

Under the one in all in rule, you must provide Jobkeeper payments to all employees that meet the requirements and who have completed the necessary Jobkeeper nomination forms. If you have any employees that meet the new eligibility requirements, you must now add them to your Jobkeeper declarations to remain eligible for any Jobkeeper payments.

In assessing whether you have any newly eligible employees, you should consider:

1. Full-time and part-time employees that were employed after 1 March and on or before 1 July;
2. Those casual employees that have been employed for 12 months as at 1 July on a regular and systematic basis and not employed on a permanent basis elsewhere;
3. Employees who have turned 18 years of age between 1 March and 1 July;
4. Employees who became Australian residents between 1 March and 1 July;

In limited circumstances, an individual who was previously nominated as an eligible employee with one employer, can now renominate as an eligible employee with a new employer (see paragraph 1.2 of the attached summary document below).

A “re-employed former employee” who had qualified at 1 March 2020 can requalify for Jobkeeper with their same employer subject to a number of conditions (see paragraph 1.3 of the attached summary document below).

Turnover Test

These changes do not require you to retest the required drop in turnover. If you currently qualify for Jobkeeper, you will continue to qualify until 28 September 2020 with this round of changes, you just need to update and include any newly eligible or requalifying employees.

PLEASE NOTE: These changes are separate to other recent announcements regarding the extension of Jobkeeper past 28 September 2020. Further information will be provided on those changes in due course.

Further Information

We have enclosed:

1. A summary of the Jobkeeper Employee Eligibility Changes; click here
    
2. An updated version of the Jobkeeper Payment Employer Guide; click here
    
3. A copy of the AHA|SA Member Update No.239/20 Click here

If you require further information on these changes, please contact Owen, Gary or Didier at the AHA|SA office.