New stand down powers for employers under JobKeeper

Further to our JobKeeper article, a new Part 6-4C has been introduced to the Fair Work Act 2009. This temporary provision authorizes employers eligible for JobKeeper to exercise new 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.

Partial stand down powers

These broader powers enable an employer to issue partial stand down directions to a JobKeeper employee to:

• Not work on a day or days, work for lesser periods on a particular day or days or work a reduced number of hours than the employee would usually work;