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The Short-Term Absence payment is for businesses (including self-employed) to help pay for workers who can’t work from home or attend work while they wait for the results of a Covid-19 test. To be eligible, workers need to be unable to work from home and need to miss work while waiting for their test results.

There’s a one-off payment of $359 for each eligible worker. Employers or the self-employed can apply for any worker once in any 30-day period, unless a health official or doctor tells the worker to get another test.

To apply, businesses must not be getting any of the following payments at the same time for the same worker to cover any situation that is also covered by Short-Term Absence Payment.

• any other COVID-19 Wage Subsidy, or
• Leave Support Scheme payments.

You cannot get more than one COVID-19 payment for the same employee at the same time.

The Leave Support scheme is available to employers and the self-employed to help pay their employees who have been advised to self-isolate because of COVID-19 and can’t work at home during that period.

The COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme is paid at the rate of:

• $600.00 a week for full-time workers who were working 20 hours or more a week.
• $359 a week for part-time workers who were working less than 20 hours a week.

To be eligible for a one-week payment of Leave Support Scheme your employee will have been advised to self-isolate for at least four consecutive calendar days.

If your employee needs to keep self-isolating for at least 11 calendar days or more and can’t work from home, you can apply for a second week payment of the Leave Support Scheme.