Q: Just a question in relation to the currently offered Covid-19 Leave Support Scheme Payment:

As advertised on the MSD website if your employee fits a certain criteria you can claim a payment of $600 a week for them.

My question is – if your employee normally earns more than this amount, what are there/our options if we wanted to pay them at 100% of their normal wage?

Eg. Can we give them the option of topping up this payment with sick leave (if they are sick) or annual leave (or any other leave owed) if they are just isolating,and not actually sick.

A: Yes, as long as they meet the criteria as you have stated: they are sick so SL can be used to top up.  But it must be the employee requesting to use their leave not the employer just using their leave.  Get it all in writing (the request to top up).