Financial Support while isolating due to COVID-19
Employers or self-employed people can apply for these payments to help pay wages. There’s no revenue test, and these payments are not a Wage Subsidy.
COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme
COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment
COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme:
Help to pay wages and salary costs for an employee who is self-isolating due to COVID-19 and can't work at home. This scheme also covers wages if your employee's household includes anyone who is self-isolating or in a high-risk group. Self-employed people can also apply for the Leave Support Scheme.
This means your employees:
can't come into work because they are in one of the affected groups and have been told to self-isolate, and
can't work from home.
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.
You can apply for third and subsequent Leave support payments for every further seven days of self-isolation.
Apply for the COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme using the online application form - https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/covid-19/leave-support-scheme/how-to-apply.html
COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment:
The COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment is available for businesses, including self-employed people, to help pay their employees who cannot work from home while they wait for a COVID-19 test result. It’s also available to self-employed people.
The Short-Term Absence Payment is available from 9 February 2021. It’s to help businesses keep paying eligible employees who:
cannot work from home, and
need to miss work to stay home while waiting for a COVID-19 test result (in line with public health guidance).
There’s a one-off payment of $359 for each eligible worker. You can only apply for it once, for each eligible employee, in any 30-day period (unless a health official or doctor tells the employee to get another test).
You can't get the Short-Term Absence Payment when you or your employee take a Rapid Antigen Test because the results are quick. If you or your employee test positive you will be able to apply for the Leave Support Scheme.
Source: Work and Income