A business can only claim a JobKeeper Payment in respect of an employee who is an ‘eligible employee’.

Importantly, an employer that elects to participate in the JobKeeper Scheme is required to include all eligible employees in the scheme (unless the employee advises the employer they do not wish the employer to claim the JobKeeper Payment on their behalf).

An ‘eligible employee’ is an employee who satisfies the following requirements:

• The employee is currently employed by the employer (which includes an employee who has been stood down or re-hired after they had already lost their job).
• The employee was employed by the employer as at 1 March 2020.
• The employee is a full-time or part-time employee, or a long-term casual employee (i.e., one who has been employed by the employer on a regular and systematic basis for longer than 12 months as at 1 March 2020).
• The employee was at least 16 years of age on 1 March
• The employee was, on 1 March 2020, either:
• a resident of Australia for social security purposes (e.g., an Australia citizen, a holder of a permanent visa or a holder of a protected special category visa); or
• a resident of Australia for tax purposes and was a holder of a Subclass 444 (Special Category)
• The employee has not given any other employer a nomination notice (refer below).
• If the employee is a long-term casual employee – they are not a permanent employee of any other employer
• The employee is not in receipt of a government-funded parental leave pay or dad and partner pay and nor are they fully supported by a workers’ compensation scheme.

Additionally, before an entitlement to the JobKeeper Payment arises, the ATO requires an employer to complete a JobKeeper employee nomination notice to notify eligible employees that the employer intends to participate in the scheme, and ask the employees to agree to be nominated and receive payments from them as part of the scheme. The employee indicates on that same form whether they agree (or not) before returning the form to the employer, who must retain it for five years.

If an eligible employee has multiple employers who each send them a nomination form, they can only accept a nomination from one employer (such that only one employer is entitled to a JobKeeper Payment on their behalf).

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