"The Australian Industry Group is pleased that the views of industry have been taken into account in the drafting of the JobKeeper amendments to the Fair Work Act," Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Ai Group, said today.
"The amendments to the Act are fair and balanced, and will only operate for a short period. The amendments are focussed on preserving businesses and jobs during the COVID-19 crisis. A legislative solution is critical because it is not practical for every award and thousands of enterprise agreements to be varied to align the pay entitlements with the structure of the JobKeeper program.
"The amendments to the Fair Work Act will give employers who are eligible under the JobKeeper scheme the right to issue certain reasonable directions to their employees during the COVID-19 crisis. This is necessary because often businesses will need to operate differently to survive and preserve jobs during the crisis.
"Ai Group will make more expansive comments once the Bill is publicly released," Mr Willox said.
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