COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment

The information on this page is a summary of the key details about this payment. Detailed information can be found in the declarations at the bottom of this page.

Who could get it

This payment was available to help businesses pay employees waiting for a COVID-19 PCR test result.

The application for the person who took the COVID-19 PCR test must have been for either:

• an employee
• someone who was a dependant of an employee, or
• someone who was self-employed.

They must have been unable to work from home while they waited for the results.

Also, during the period applied for:

• the business must have been registered with the New Zealand Companies Office (except for self-employed people) and operating in New Zealand.
• self-employed people must have been physically located and legally working in New Zealand, along with other requirements, e.g. having an IRD number.

State Sector organisations were generally not eligible for COVID-19 payments, however some may have been granted an exception. This could be because they had an exception for a previous COVID-19 payment, or the organisation was a State-Owned Enterprise or Mixed Ownership Model company.

The full eligibility criteria is listed in the declarations.

Payment amount

The payment amount was a one-off payment of $359 for each eligible employee. This was regardless of whether they were working full or part-time. 

Declarations

There are different declarations depending on when you applied for the COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment. Your obligations and repayment responsibilities are in the declaration you agreed to when you applied.