Call UsCOVID-19: Employer insurance FAQs
Jobkeeper
There is nothing written that specifically states that members on IP benefits are not eligible for JobKeeper.
In assessing whether which employees are eligible for JobKeeper the requirements are (ATO eligibility page):
- employed (including those stood down or re-hired)
- at 1 March 2020, either a:
- full-time, part-time, or fixed term employee, and not a casual employee; or
- long-term casual (at least 12 months) who is not a permanent employee of any other employer
- on 1 March 2020 were 18 years of age or older
- Australian resident as at 1 March 2020
- were not in receipt of any of these payments during the JobKeeper fortnight
- government parental leave or dad and partner pay
- a payment in accordance with Australian worker compensation law for an individual’s total incapacity for work
- agree to be nominated by you (see Nominating employees).
Under the above requirements an employer could potentially apply for JobKeeper in respect of an employee who is in receipt of on IP benefit as long as the employee was employed at 1 March 2020 and met the other conditions. As an employer you need to be aware that any JobKeeper payments made to the employee on IP benefits would be offset against the potential IP benefit paid to the employee.
Where an employee is paid more than $1,500 per fortnight, the employer’s superannuation obligations will not change. Where an employee is having their wages topped up to $1,500 per fortnight by the JobKeeper payment, it will be up to the employer if they want to pay superannuation on any additional wages paid by the JobKeeper payment:
Therefore, it depends on the employer and also depends on the amount being paid to the employee. Some members may be paid SG based on the JobKeeper subsidy and therefore their IP premiums would continue, however their level of cover would be impacted given its an average of the last 12 months of Salary.
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Changes to employment
Members are not covered for IP if they are not paying premiums. Members need to be working and receiving SG contributions and have IP premiums paid up to date to be covered for that period.
Stood down: If a member is currently on claim and their income is reduced (they should not be working as they are on claim) they should still continue to receive the same amount of IP benefit.
Receiving reduced income: Same as above.
Receiving JobKeeper payment: Same as above.
If they are not receiving SG contributions, they will not be paying IP premiums whilst being stood down. As such, they are not covered and therefore ineligible to claim.
Will they receive any benefits while:
Stood down: See previous question.
When they were due to return to work: See previous question.
There are a number of factors to consider for members who return to work and lodge a claim whilst recently recommencing full-time duties. This will depend on the date of the injury or illness, whether premiums are paid up to date or are in arrears due to SG contributions yet to be paid, pre-existing conditions and also the amount they can claim on is averaged over the past 12 months and it is likely to be lower given the member was not working for an extended period of time. Therefore, all claims will be circumstantial and will need to be assessed by our insurer to determine eligibility.
Yes, the calculation of a member's Salary is an average of the SG contributions received over the last 12 months. Therefore, if a claiming member did not work for an extended period of time, their insured Salary will be lower due to no contributions being received.
For more information on what support is available to you visit our COVID-19 information page.
Definitions
For more information on insurance definitions which are both capitalised and italicised in these FAQs, please refer to the relevant insurance booklet under the ‘Insurance Definitions’ section located here for more information