COVID-19 support for employers

You can apply for support if your employees need to self-isolate, as long as you meet the criteria and agree to meet your obligations. The support payments you can apply for are to contribute to the costs of the wages or salaries of your employees. You can also apply if you are self-employed.

Your employees can't apply for these payments. You need to name the employees you are applying for when you make your application.

If you get payments from these support schemes, you must continue to pay the wages or salaries of the employees named in your application. This is set out in the declaration you make when you apply.

Whatever you do, you still need to stick to employment law and privacy law.

If you have questions, you can call us on 0800 40 80 40.

Payments available for employers

Employers or self-employed people can apply for these payments to help pay wages or salary. There’s no revenue test, as there was with the COVID-19 Wage Subsidies.

COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme

Help to pay wages or salary costs for an employee who can't work from home and must self-isolate. The reason they are self-isolating must be based on public health guidance or advice from a medical practitioner – read the full details of who can get the Leave Support Scheme.

Self-employed people can also apply for the Leave Support Scheme.

COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment

Help to pay wages or salary costs if your employee can't work while waiting for a COVID-19 PCR test result. This helps your employee stay at home if they or their dependants are waiting for a COVID-19 PCR test result.

Self-employed people can apply for the Short-Term Absence Payment too.

You can't get the Short-Term Absence Payment when you or your employee take a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) because the results are quick. If you or your employee test positive you will be able to apply for the Leave Support Scheme.

Already applied

We need to check the information you've given us is the same as what's held by Inland Revenue. If it isn't, there could be a delay.

If you have questions, you can call us on 0800 40 80 40. Please don’t call us to check the status of your application.

COVID-19 support that has ended

Some COVID-19 payments that support employers, employees and others have ended. This includes the COVID-19 Wage Subsidies.

Legal obligations

As an employer, you need to stick to the law during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employment law and privacy law still apply during COVID-19, even at different traffic light settings. Your employees still have legal rights you must meet. Your tax may also be affected if you get COVID-19 support.

Employment agreements

You need to stick to employment law and employment agreements you already have. This includes how much you normally pay your employees.

If you want to change the employment agreement of any of your employees, you first need to discuss this with them. Your employees need to agree to any changes to their employment agreements, and any changes must be in writing.

Employment New Zealand has guides for leave and pay, health and safety, and workplace changes.

Consent and privacy

When you apply for COVID-19 payments that need the personal details of your employees, you need to stick to privacy laws.

When you apply, you need to:

• first get consent from any employees whose names you give
• tell these named employees what happens with your application.

You need to make sure any employees you name in your applications understand:

• we may share their information with other government departments and other organisations
• they can ask to see your application information under the Privacy Act 2020.

Applying for COVID-19 payments

Each time you apply for any COVID-19 business support, you make a declaration. The declaration includes the:

• criteria you need to meet to apply
• need to prepare and keep evidence to support your application
• repayment process if you find you don’t need the payments or weren’t eligible for the payments
• obligation that you use the money to pay your named employees.

If you do not follow the requirements in the declaration you make, you may face civil proceedings or criminal prosecution.

Tax obligations

If you get any COVID-19 payments, your business and personal taxes may be affected. Inland Revenue can help you understand more about your taxes during COVID-19.

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This is a summary only. If there is any difference between the information on this page and the information in the relevant declaration, the declaration prevails.