Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate that the Labor Party is supporting these amendments. It was Labor that identified early on that some employers were planning to pick and choose which of their eligible employees would receive JobKeeper payment. The potential for employers to discriminate between eligible employees on a range of grounds was obvious. Experience from our MPs was that employees were being given no reason, or otherwise totally spurious reasons, for being excluded from the program. Thankfully, the Treasurer eventually listened and created the one-in-all-in principle. The one-in-all-in rule requires employers who have decided to participate in the JobKeeper scheme to nominate all eligible employees for the scheme. The issue that this amendment seeks to address is the fact that, in a situation such as the one described above, there is no authority for the employee to go to in order to challenge or appeal an employer's decision to exclude them from JobKeeper on eligibility grounds.

The Fair Work Commission has previously reported that a large proportion of complaints about JobKeeper had been about eligibility, which was outside their jurisdiction. This amendment extends the Fair Work Commission's jurisdiction to deal with disputes about whether or not an employee is eligible for the JobKeeper scheme. Proposed section 789GVA provides for the Fair Work Commission to deal with a dispute about eligible employees and stipulates that, to the extent that it is possible, the Fair Work Commission must give effect to the one-in-all-in principle in dealing with disputes. The Fair Work Commission may also make an order to give effect to the one-in-all-in principle, including an order that the employee is eligible for the JobKeeper payment. The Fair Work Commission may deal with disputes about whether a relevant employee of an entity which is participating in the JobKeeper scheme is an eligible employee for the purpose of the JobKeeper payment rules. We therefore offer our support for this amendment.

The CHAIR: The question is that amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 1008, as moved by Senator Faruqi, be agreed to.