If an employee has agreed to reduced working hours due to loss of work from COVID, but being paid up to 80%, is the ‘Otherwise working day’ determined by the new work pattern? Could that result in the

Determining whether a day is an 'otherwise working day' should be based on the employee's pre-lockdown working pattern. However, if the employer and employee have agreed to a permanent change, this new arrangement can be used to assess whether the day is an 'otherwise working day'. The likely consequences of shifting to the new arrangement (both during or following the period of the wage subsidy) should be made clear to the employee wherever possible.