COVID-19 | Redundancy Payments During The Crisis

Michael Byrnes, Partner and Emily Capener, Solicitor provide an overview of two recent cases that considered the payment of redundancy during the COVID-19 crisis.

Redundancies are generally driven by factors such as technological advances, company restructuring and business closures. Now, of course, employers and employees alike need to deal with the challenges posed by a pandemic. Due to the COVID-19 crisis there has been a dramatic increase in the number of employees whose positions are being made redundant by businesses who can no longer afford to keep them usefully employed. While the JobKeeper scheme has sought to alleviate the current financial burden on some Australian employers, not all businesses are eligible, and they still may need to look at other options including redundancy.