JobKeeper and termination payments

An employment termination payments (ETP) is a lump sum payment made to an employee when their job is terminated. ETP’s are generally made up of unused sick leave or unused rostered days off, payment in lieu of leave, genuine redundancy payments, etc.

For some employers, JobKeeper will not be enough to keep the employee employed. If you do need to let staff go, the ATO has stated that from JobKeeper fortnights from 8 June onwards until the end of the scheme, ETPs cannot be included as part of the $1,500 an employer needs to pay to eligible employees to access JobKeeper payments.

If any JobKeeper payments include an ETP to a terminated employee between 30 March to 7 June, the ATO has stated that it will not recover an overpayment.