Forced closure for South Australian Businesses

James Murphy Tax

Question

I have clients that have had to close their business for 6 days due to SA COVID restrictions. 

Our question is do they still have to pay their staff under Fairwork, or can they force them to take leave?

Most are no longer on JobKeeper payments, therefore Fairwork changes can not apply?

Answer

Firstly, they need to see if the employees can work from home if they can then they should allow them, second is there any alternative work they can do, if not they can then stand them down under the provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009.

If they stand them down, they then have an obligation to offer them annual leave or any other time in lieu they may have.