Employer loophole leaves Frankston PARC workers in the dark, without JobKeeper amid COVID-19 crisis
Hundreds of Frankston workers who have just lost their jobs have been told they won’t get the government’s JobKeeper payment because of one loophole. And they says that’s unfair.
South East
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A legislative loophole has left hundreds of stood-down staff at a popular leisure centre in Melbourne’s southeast with no access to the government’s JobKeeper payment.
Up to 300 team members at Peninsula Aquatic Recreation Centre were told they cannot access the Federal Government’s $1500 fortnightly payment because the centre is affiliated with Frankston City Council — despite employees not being employed by the council, and not receiving council rates.
The centre is owned by Peninsula Leisure which is owned by the council, with employees receiving confirmation they were ineligible because they worked for a wholly-owned subsidiary of a local council.
“Upon receiving confirmation that Peninsula Leisure was not eligible for the JobKeeper subsidy, all employees were emailed this disappointing news the same day,” Peninsula Leisure chief executive Tim Gledhill said.
“Although the JobKeeper subsidy was never guaranteed to benefit our staff, we are incredibly disappointed for all our people as this news impacts over 250 staff from our casuals, through to leaders and managers.
“Our people are the absolute heart and soul of PARC and their talent, commitment and passion has been instrumental in delivering success over the past five years … we are committed to having all our people back at work as soon as possible to support the reopening.”
Eligible employers for JobKeeper include the federal, foreign, state and territory government and their agencies but not local governments or wholly-owned corporations of them.
“This is a terrible blow for locals who will lose employment security just when they need it the most,” Member for Dunkley Peta Murphy told the Leader.
“But, treasurer Josh Frydenberg has the power to change the eligibility rules to fix this.
I have written to him asking him to give these 300 locals financial security by including them in JobKeeper.”
Mayor Sandra Mayer said the council was actively working with Peninsula Leisure management to explore “feasible options moving forward” and that the group would continue to advocate as part of a wider local government effort to ensure appropriate relief packages were in place for impacted workers.
In the council 11 casual employees were stood down and paid two additional weeks pay, with other casuals redeployed to the Meals on Wheels program.
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Liberal senator David Van bit back at Ms Murphy on social media, saying she and Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke were trying to shift responsibility from the State Government.
“It isn’t helpful (to affected employees) for them to turn this into a political point for scoring opportunity when they know full-well this issue is squarely in the responsibility of the state government,” he wrote on Facebook.
“They should petition the state government to provide financial support for these workers and not point the finger at council and the federal government.”
PARC was contacted for comment.