On 2 April 2020, the Government announced an "essential
workers leave scheme" in relation to essential workers who are
unable to work from home and become sick or are vulnerable, or who
have sick or vulnerable members of their household. The scheme will
ensure that workers in that category will continue to receive
income, and will plug a gap left when the Government rolled the
leave subsidy into the wage subsidy last week. The scheme will
allow essential businesses to pay employees who need to take leave
due to the COVID-19 Public Health guidance at the same rates as the
Wage Subsidy Scheme, being $585.80 per week for full-time workers,
and $350.00 per week for part-time workers.
