Extended stand down powers under JobKeeper 2.0

Further to our JobKeeper 2.0 update, the new Part 6-4C of the Fair Work Act has been extended to operate until 28 March 2021. This temporary provision authorizes employers who continue to be eligible for JobKeeper to exercise more flexible powers to stand down employees who cannot be usefully employed for their normal days or hours because of changes to the business attributable to:

• the COVID-19 pandemic; or
• government initiatives to slow the transmission of COVID-19.

It also enables so called "legacy employers" (i.e. employers who accessed JobKeeper prior to 28 Sept 2020 and no longer qualify but are still experiencing a 10% decline in turnover for each relevant quarter as certified by a tax accountant) to exercise modified stand down powers outlined below. This is a new concept but can be useful to an employer whose business was starting to recover after the first lockdown but is buffeted again by the second wave and consequent further lockdown.