EXTENDED JOBKEEPER FOR SALON OWNERS

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Posted July 27, 2020

JobKeeper has been an absolute lifeline for salon owners, enabling so many of us, including our faves in the Beauty industry who have been horribly hit during COVID-19, to stay open. While all salon owners have been dreading the end of the JobKeeper payments in September, they were given a lifeline this week with the Federal Government announcing that the scheme would continue for some businesses after the previous 30 September cut-off date, until March 2021 (at this stage).

 

There are SIGNIFICANT changes to the payment, eligibility, and how much you will be paid for your staff. Salon Owners NEED to be on top of this to make sure that they get the maximum benefit during this extremely challenging time.

 

SECOND PHASE OF JOBKEEPER

The second phase of JobKeeper will run from 1 October until 28 March 2021, unless we are told otherwise. “We don’t set and forget when it comes to these arrangements, we continue to look at them and we continue to calibrate them to ensure they are being effective,” Mr. Morrison said. Support will be targeted to businesses and not-for-profits that continue to be significantly impacted by the corona virus. The JobKeeper Payment will continue to remain open to new recipients, provided they meet the existing eligibility requirements and the additional turnover tests during the extension period.  If a business or not-for-profit does not meet the new turnover tests for the extended JobKeeper period, it has no bearing on their eligibility prior to 28 September 2020. Other eligibility rules for businesses and not-for-profits and their employees remain unchanged.

 

 

TWO TIERS OF JOBKEEPER

There will now be two tiers of JobKeeper payments, and staff are classed into the different tiers based on how many hours eligible staff worked before the COVID-19 pandemic, measured in February.

Staff that worked 20 hours or more every week in February will be eligible for the upper tier, paying $1,200 a fortnight until January 3, 2021. It will then reduce to $1,000 a fortnight until the program ends on March 28, 2021.

Those that worked LESS than 20 hours per week in February will receive $750 a fortnight until January 3, 2021. It will then reduce to $650 a fortnight until the program ends on March 28, 2021.

The minimum wage condition will still apply, meaning businesses still won’t be allowed to pay staff a lower hourly rate than they were previously entitled to. For salon owners, this means employers will continue to have to pay a higher proportion of their wage bills under the extended JobKeeper scheme.

 

 

ELIGIBILITY FOR JOBKEEPER

Eligibility for the extended JobKeeper scheme will be tested at the end of September and again in early January. These tests will review the same turnover criteria, but will require any business to demonstrate a significant decline in revenue against a comparable period from the year before, rather than from forecasts.

To be eligible for JobKeeper Payments under the extension, businesses and not-for-profits will still need to demonstrate that they have experienced a decline in turnover of:

• 50 percent for those with an aggregated turnover of more than $1 billion
• 30 percent for those with an aggregated turnover of $1 billion or less

or

• 15 percent for Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission-registered charities (excluding schools and universities)

Employers will be required to demonstrate their turnover declined at least 30% for both the June and September quarters to be eligible for JobKeeper payments covering the December quarter. Employers will also need to demonstrate they also meet the turnover decline across the December quarter to remain eligible for JobKeeper payments through to March 28, 2021.

JobKeeper is going to become more complex, so it’s important that salon owners stay on top of what is going on in their business and what they’re entitled to. The only way to truly know about what you’re entitled to is to get advice tailored to YOUR BUSINESS and your particular situation. HABA Members can speak to our team of legal experts by calling our advice line on (02) 9221 9911 and pressing option 2.