Some hospitality workers to be better off under JobKeeper payment

The Federal Government’s historic JobKeeper scheme has been passed by Parliament.

The $130 billion wage subsidy will guarantee eligible workers $1500 per fortnight in those businesses significantly impacted by the coronavirus shutdown.

But one key feature of the package is that all eligible staff will be paid at a flat rate of $750 per week irrespective of your previous salary. This means that some lower paid, part-time staff may actually see a boost to their pay packets.

“If an employee ordinarily receives less than $1500 in income per fortnight before tax, their employer must pay their employee, at a minimum, $1500 per fortnight, before tax,” the government states on its website.

Professor Tom Smith, Head of Applied Finance at Macquarie Business School welcomed the package.

“If you are in hospitality and only doing one shift a week part-time, you would only get around $200 per shift or $400 a fortnight, whereas the JobKeeper gives you $1500 per fortnight,” Professor Smith told News.com.au.

“It doesn’t discriminate. You will still get $1500 per fortnight regardless of the number of shifts you do per week.”

The JobKeeper payment is temporary and will be in place for six months.

Sheridan Randall, 9^th April 2020