Yahoo Finance Hours until JobKeeper deadline: Millions of workers could miss out
The Federal Government announced the $130 billion JobKeeper program as the crown of its three massive stimulus packages, but millions of workers could miss out if their bosses miss a crucial deadline.
Also read: Fine print: Essential opt-in step to receiving JobKeeper payment
Also read: $126,000 fines in store for ‘dodgy’ JobKeeper bosses
Also read: Why your JobKeeper payment may be less than $1,500
Australian bosses have until the end of Friday 8 May to pay their eligible staff the subsidy for the first two JobKeeper fortnights in April.
These fortnights fall from 30 March to 12 April and 13 April to 26 April. That means eligible employees must have been paid at least $3,000 by 8 May for the business to be eligible for the JobKeeper payments.
The next tranche of $1,500 payments must be processed by 10 May. Here’s the full list of key dates.
The first set of payments was due to be received by businesses in the first week of May.
However, while described as a bridge to economic recovery by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, the scheme has been met with criticism due to the heavy costs the payments can impose on small businesses.
While businesses are reimbursed for all the payments, the nature of the scheme means they are paid in arrears. On top of that, the scheme applies to all eligible workers, regardless of hours worked or pre-coronavirus wages. That means that for some businesses, their wage bill has grown.
And it’s become a major roadblock for thousands of businesses.
Around 730,000 businesses have already signed up for the subsidy program, covering around 4.7 million workers.
But another 170,000 businesses expressed interest but didn’t sign up, claiming the process was too complex.
And according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 8 per cent of businesses that decided not to apply for JobKeeper did so because of insufficient funds, locking out potentially millions of workers.
Businesses that miss this deadline will still be able to enrol until 31 May for payments made in April and May, provided they have paid eligible staff at least $1,500 a fortnight before tax.
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