Brian Jackson (Senior Lawyer) Moray & Agnew will present an urgent webinar on managing the economic and health & safety implications of the COVID-19 crisis on your workplace including: How best to implement, and enforce necessary protocols to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your employees, with the least disruption and with effective compliance. How to manage staffing costs and under-utilisation in the COVID-19 environment, including voluntary reductions in pay and hours, and redundancies. The increasing use of the stand down provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009, where employees cannot be usefully employed due to a stoppage of work.

1. Sydney ▲ Melbourne ▲ Brisbane ▲ Canberra ▲ Newcastle ▲ Perth
Coronavirus and your workplace
Sydney ▲ Melbourne ▲ Brisbane ▲ Canberra ▲ Newcastle ▲ Perth
Brian Jackson
Special Counsel

2. Workforce
management through
COVID-19 Crisis
▲ Voluntary reductions in remuneration
or hours
▲ Consent (implied or expressed?) must be
obtained – messaging must therefore be
empathetic and collaborative
▲ Confirmed in contractual variations
▲ Redundancy
▲ Compelling grounds in current environment,
selection still needs consideration
▲ Assess redundancy pay – less than 1 years
service? Small business?
▲ Remain aware of Awards variations,
shutdown orders and JobKeeper
subsidies

3. Stand Down
▲ 524(1) of Fair Work Act 2009 provides for ‘stand down’ where employee ‘cannot be usefully
employed’ due to ‘stoppage of work for any cause for which the employer cannot
reasonably be held responsible’ (524(1)(c))
▲ Not ‘because of a deterioration of business conditions’ or ‘because an employee has the
coronavirus’
▲ Is ‘where there is an enforceable government direction requiring the business to close’
▲ Can it be due to ‘lack of supply’, ‘trading inconsistent with government guidelines’, ongoing
trading inconsistent with Government guidelines?
▲ A stand down is without pay (leave continues to accrue), but similar arrangements such as
accessing annual leave or other voluntary subsistence arrangements may not be ‘stand
down’

4. Job Keeper Payments
▲ Flat subsidy of $1500 per fortnight for every eligible worker.
▲ Payments will be backdated to 30 March 2020
▲ Businesses with less than $1 billion in annual revenue - a 30% decrease in revenue to be
eligible for the payments
▲ Full-time, part-time or casual employee on the books on 1 March 2020 who are retained and
continue to be engaged by company
▲ Employees earning more than the JobKeeper subsidy - ‘the employer is able to provide
them with a top-up’.
▲ Employers can pay the $1500 fortnightly payment, despite not having any meaningful work
for them to do (particularly relevant for retail, hospitality and tourism sectors – subject to
government directives)

5. Key Duties Under
Work Health Safety
Legislation
▲ Provide a working environment which
is safe and without risks to health
▲ Provide adequate facilities
▲ Provide information, instruction,
training and supervision
▲ Monitor health and conditions
▲ Employees must take reasonable care
of their own health and safety

6. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach
▲ The important thing is that you
▲ actively consider the context of your business
▲ the workplace
▲ the work carried out there
▲ your workers and others who come into the workplace
▲ do what you reasonably can to eliminate or minimise the risk of the people
at your workplace contracting COVID-19

7. In Conclusion
▲ Keep Up! The environment is
changing daily
▲ Most employees get it. Work with
them towards a sustainable future
▲ Tell us want you want, and we will
adapt legal solutions that are market
consistent and can be executed
quickly
▲ Stay safe, now and as things continue
to develop

8. Next events

9. Contact

10. Sydney ▲ Melbourne ▲ Brisbane ▲ Canberra ▲ Newcastle ▲ Perth
Disclaimer
In NSW, VIC, QLD, WA:
Liability limited by a scheme approved under
Professional Standards legislation