On 14 August 2020, the Government announced an extension to the Jobkeeper Payment scheme which allows employers to nominate additional employees who were previously not eligible to be nominated for the scheme. These changes are detailed below.

Changes to Eligible Employees

When the Jobkeeper Payment scheme commenced, eligible employees were employees who:

• were employed by the employer at 1 March 2020;
• are full-time, part-time, or long-term casuals (a casual employed on a regular basis for longer than 12 months as at 1 March 2020);
• are aged 18 years or older at 1 March 2020 (16 or 17 year olds can also qualify for fortnights before 11 May 2020, and continue to qualify after that if they are independent or not undertaking full time study).
• are an Australian citizen, the holder of a permanent visa, a Protected Special Category Visa Holder, a non-protected Special Category Visa Holder who has been residing continually in Australia for 10 years or more, or a Special Category (Subclass 444) Visa Holder; and
• are not in receipt of a JobKeeper Payment from another employer.

For Jobkeeper fortnights starting on or after 3 August 2020, employees who were not previously eligible, based on the above, are now eligible if they satisfy either of the following criteria on 1 July 2020 (the 1 July 2020 test):

• employees who are full-time, part-time, or fixed-term employees on 1 July 2020;
• employees who are long-term casual employees (employed on a regular and systematic basis during the 12 month period that ended 1 July) and not a permanent employee of any other employer.

In addition to the above, the employees must also meet all of the following criteria:

• employees are aged 18 years or older at 1 July 2020 (16 or 17 year olds can also qualify if they are independent or not undertaking full time study).
• are an Australian citizen, the holder of a permanent visa, a Protected Special Category Visa Holder, a non-protected Special Category Visa Holder who has been residing continually in Australia for 10 years or more, or a Special Category (Subclass 444) Visa Holder; and
• are not in receipt of a JobKeeper Payment from another employer.

The above 1 July change, means that the following employees now become eligible for the scheme from 3 August 2020 on wards:

• employees who became employed full-time or part-time after 1 March 2020 but on or before 1 July 2020;
• casual employees who had not been employed for 12 months on 1 March 2020 but are employed for 12 months or more on 1 July 2020.

Payment Extension to 31 August 2020

In order for an employer to be eligible to receive the Jobkeeper Payment in respect of eligible employees, one requirement is that the employees are paid salaries of at least $1,500 per Jobkeeper fortnight during the month. If a salary is less than the $1,500 per fortnight, then the employer needs to top up the salary to $1,500 per fortnight.

For the fortnights commencing on 3 and 17 August 2020 only, the ATO are allowing employers until 31 August 2020 to meet this wage condition for all new eligible employees that are included from 3 August 2020 as a result of the 1 July 2020 eligibility test.

This means that if you have employees who become eligible based on the 1 July 2020 test but are paid less than $1,500 per fortnight, the top up payments are made for the fortnights commencing 3 and 17 August by 31 August 2020.