The Short-Term Absence Payment is available for businesses to pay employees who can’t work from home and miss work while waiting for a COVID-19 test result.
A COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment is available at all Alert Levels to employers to pay workers who follow public health guidance and are staying home while waiting for a COVID-19 test result. It’s also available to eligible self-employed workers. To be eligible, workers need to be unable to work from home and need to miss work while waiting for the test results.
The payment is $350 for each worker. Employers or the self-employed can apply for any worker once in any 30-day period.
How to apply for the COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment
If you are applying for people who work for you, you need to apply using the online form.
When you apply you will need to give them your:
- business IRD number (this could include your partnership IRD number or company IRD number
- IR customer name (this is the name that’s linked to your business IRD number)
- New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) if you have one
- business address
- your contact name, email address and mobile number
- bank account number
- your worker’s details:
- names
- dates of birth
- IRD numbers.
If you don’t’ have people working for you, which means you are applying for yourself, you also need to apply using the online form.
When you apply you will need to give them your:
- business IRD number (this is your personal IRD number)
- employment type (whether you’re working less than 20 hours, or 20 hours or more)
- IR customer name (this is your name, not your trade name)
- business address
- contact name, email address and mobile number
- bank account number.
