By Ross Higgins, Partner

On 23 July we posted details of JobKeeper 2.0 to apply from 28 September 2020. On 7 August we notified that for Eligible employees effective from 3 August 2020 the relevant date of employment will move from 1 March 2020 to 1 July 2020, increasing employee eligibility for the existing first phase (until 27 September) and the second phase extension.

Under the “one in, all in” principle for JobKeeper, employers must identify new eligible employees under the new rules and new employee nominations must be made by today 24 August 2020. 1 July employee nomination form, here.

Separately, the ATO has provided employers until 31 August 2020 to meet the wage condition for all new eligible employees under the 1 July eligibility test.

The new 1 July eligibility test will potentially cover employees:

• hired after 1 March and employed at 1 July;
• who did not meet the definition of a long-term casual employee by 1 March but have since become long-term casual employees by 1 July;
• who did not qualify on 1 March due to their age or visa status but have since become 16 to 18 years of age and meet the independence criteria and study or have obtained the necessary visa.