JobKeeper Legacy Provisions

As JobKeeper comes to an end and many businesses still struggling, let’s take a look at JobKeeper legacy provisions and if any additional powers will continue under section 789 of the Fair Work Act.

Please see below for a full transcript of the video.

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Transcript

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We have here a situation or shall I say a reply here from gel a question from Gina, thank you for asking it, I understand that legacy employers not able to qualify for JK 2.0. But still able to show 30% decrease in sales, in comparison, are able to give directive actions, including reduced working hours. That is correct. There are at the moment some legacy provisions in place. However, we’ve looked very carefully at whether or not those legacy provisions will continue to apply post 31st of March this year, and at this particular point in time, we understand that there will not be any legacy provisions that will continue beyond that date. So the reality is, what they will be so I’ve just had Andrew clarify, because he’s been an expert on this for us is that there will be some awards that will offer some flexibility in respect to location, and potentially a couple of other things, but not to the not duties, sorry, but not to the extent of reducing working hours beyond 31st March.

So at 31st March, you’re gonna have to deal with the issue of the working hours on an ongoing basis. And what we’re saying the client is really you have only got two choices, you’ve got restructure, or and or go down the path of permanently agreed changes to the employment. So whether that’s that, you know, salesperson, now, we agree with that salesperson, they’re no longer going to be full time, they’re gonna be part time on a three day a week basis, or whatever that may be.

So those legacy provisions are in play right now, for those who didn’t get JK 2.0. But they won’t be in play post 31st, March 2021. That’s our current understanding of the state of play. Look, the reforms may come up with something different. But at this point in time, it’s looking unlikely that the reforms will do that. And not only that the reforms are a little bit on the backburner at the moment because for two reasons. Number one, they’re being opposed by obviously the Labour Party and when there’s not necessarily support at the crossbenchers yet either. But we also have a situation where Christian Porter unfortunately, has some, you know, publicity at the moment, which is probably personally affecting him in terms of how he can deal with these reforms and move them along.

So we have put together this what we call limited time restructure package for anyone who’s looking at undertaking a restructure, and that is, and that would offer the following services as part of the restructure package that we provide you with the restructuring and redundancy plan. We provide you with advice on the payments and the related obligations. We give you the initial meeting plan the initial consultation letter, we would give you advice about the alternative jobs and selection criteria, if it’s applicable, we give you advice on the further consultation discussions, the final meeting plan, the final meeting and the discussions and letters around those things. We can organize for you outplacement EAP. And we can give you a discount for the Fair Work Commission proceedings should you need us to represent you should any matters go before the commission for any for any clients with one to three redundancies or one three employees in that restructure costs $1500 plus GST It’s a limited time offer that we’re offering only for the purposes of this because we come to the end of job keeper. We don’t normally offer this as a one off service. We do have it included in all of our support packages for clients which are essential support performance and risk and HR managers for any clients that are interested in ongoing support arrangements. They are included at free of charge as part of those support packages. So if anyone’s interested in those things, please get in touch with this at ondemandhr.com.au and we can talk you through either a limited time restructuring service or assisting you on an ongoing basis with this being at no extra cost for you as part of a monthly support.