Who is eligible
The Sick Pay Guarantee is an Australian-first initiative giving Victorian casual and contract workers in certain jobs up to 38 hours a year of sick and carer’s pay.
Contract workers are eligible if you meet the eligibility requirements and you don’t have employees or pay anyone to do your work for you.
Contract workers may also be called:
- self-employed workers
- sole traders
- independent contractors
- contractors
- subcontractors.
See the full list of eligible jobs.
How to find the correct job title in the eligibility check
You can check your eligibility and sign up through Service Victoria.
When you’re completing the eligibility check, you will need to enter your main job. This must be your job title, not the name of the company or principal contractor that you work for.
Tips for entering your job title in the eligibility check:
- Search for your job title or role, not your company name or sole trader name.
- Do not enter ‘contractor’ or ‘sole trader’ – these are not eligible job names.
- Type a key word to get more search results. For example, type 'sales' and you'll see every job title that includes 'sales'.
- If you can’t find your exact job title, think about other titles that could accurately describe your job. For example, someone who is a driver might be called a Van Driver or a Delivery Driver.
- If you have more than one job, choose the job where you work more hours.
See the full list of eligible jobs.
What evidence do I need to sign up?
All workers need to provide evidence to show that they are eligible for the Sick Pay Guarantee.
You need to show a valid ABN of your business and at least one of the documents that demonstrates your eligible job below:
- An invoice issued by your business (which includes dates when a service was given, ABN and business name) that is less than six months old
- Your most recent business activity statement that is less than six months old
- Your most recent PAYG payment summary
- ASIC or Australian Business Register confirmation of your business registration
- A statutory declaration stating:
- your occupation
- the ABN of your business
- that you have the right to work in Australia
- that you do not have paid annual, personal, sick or carer’s leave entitlements in your job(s)
- that you work, on average, for at least 7.6 hours per week.
Please provide your ABN, not the ABN of another company such as a labour hire company or the company you do contracting work for.
How do I make a claim?
See How to claim for more information on how to claim sick and carer’s pay.
Sick Pay Guarantee and tax
Sick Pay Guarantee payments are taxable if these payments form part of your income.
You are encouraged to seek tax advice as it relates to your individual circumstances.
Reviews and audits
Your claim may be audited by the Victorian Government or its representatives. You may need to give more evidence if asked. For more information see the Program Guidelines.
Can I work for more than one company?
You can sign up for the Sick Pay Guarantee if you have more than one job, but you must meet all the eligibility requirements. You must not have access to paid annual, personal, sick or carer’s leave in any of your jobs.
Many contract workers have multiple jobs and work for more than one principal contractor. If you’re rostered to work for two different principal contractors on the same day and you get sick, you can claim for the number of hours you were supposed to work for the whole day, regardless of whether your second job is eligible or not.
To be eligible to make a claim, you must not get any other income during the claim period.
Example
Jason has two jobs. He has a casual job as a waiter on weekends, and he’s a food delivery driver a few days a week, when he’s got spare time.
Jason is sick on Saturday afternoon, so he calls the restaurant to let them know he can’t work his rostered shift on Saturday night. By Saturday evening Jason is feeling well enough to drive around, so he picks up a few food deliveries on a rideshare app. Jason is not eligible to claim the Sick Pay Guarantee for his Saturday night restaurant shift because he earned money during that time from his driving job.
Rideshare and delivery drivers
Rideshare and delivery drivers can sign up if you meet the eligibility requirements, including that you don’t have access to paid sick or carer’s leave in any of your jobs.
You can check your eligibility and sign up through Service Victoria.
When you’re completing the online eligibility check, you will need to enter your main job. For example, it could be Taxi Driver or Fast Food Delivery Driver. You must enter your job title, not the name of the company or principal contractor that you work for.
If you are a rideshare driver, choose Taxi Driver as your job title during the eligibility check.
If you use an e-bike, scooter or bicycle to deliver fast food or groceries, choose Fast Food Delivery Driver or Grocery Deliverer as your job title during the eligibility check.
Arts and creative industries
You can claim the Sick Pay Guarantee if you are hired for contract work or on a flat-fee basis and you meet the eligibility requirements.
Submit your claim for the number of hours you were supposed to work in your contract job.
If you need to submit evidence to support your claim, you can provide:
- a roster
- an offer of work, or
- a statutory declaration which includes your average hours worked. Find out how to calculate your average hours.
Example
Alyx is studying visual arts at uni. She also works as a photographer’s assistant to help cover her rent and bills.
Alyx has her own ABN. It means she’s able to pick up short-term contract work, but she doesn’t get paid sick leave or annual leave from those jobs. She wanted a financial safety net, so she signed up for the Sick Pay Guarantee.
An event photographer hired Alyx to work at a Friday night wedding, from 5pm to midnight. Unfortunately, Alyx got food poisoning at lunchtime on Friday and was too sick to go to work. The wedding couldn’t be rescheduled so Alyx missed out on the job, which means she didn’t get paid. Alyx submitted a claim for the Sick Pay Guarantee. She was paid the national minimum wage for the seven hours of work that she missed.
Gig Worker Support Service
The Victorian Government’s Gig Worker Support Service is for gig workers and platforms in all industries.
They can help gig workers to:
- understand rights, protections and entitlements under workplace and related laws
- make informed decisions about working for a platform
- resolve work disputes, by putting gig workers in touch with Government agencies and other services.
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