Question: What are the rules for firing employees during COVID-19?

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Working arrangements for the health and aged care workforce during COVID-19
section_headers: Employer responsibilities
section_content: As an employer, you should brief all staff on how to prevent the spread of
COVID-19. This includes your
contract staff and domestic and cleaning staff.
If one of your staff members has tested positive for COVID-19, you need to
follow the health advice from the National Coronavirus
Helpline on 1800 020
080 or state or territory helpline.
You also need to:

support employee personal hygiene
make sure the workplace is thoroughly cleaned
promote physical distancing, where this does not prevent care
adhere to the limits on public gatherings, noting that this does not apply to staff meetings
support your employees’ mental health
provide information to workers in residential age care facilities


Reviewer feedback on this answer:
The answer is about employee health safety, not terminations.
This answer is bad because it only talks about how to protect employees from COVID, and not about firing employees during the pandemic.

Reviewer ratings:
Bad
Bad

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Coronavirus and Australian workplace laws
section_headers: Ending employment
section_content: If other options have been exhausted, or if they aren’t feasible, some
employers may need to make their employees’ positions redundant in response to
a business downturn caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Where this happens,
employers must make sure they comply with any requirement to notify and
consult about the redundancies under an applicable award, enterprise
agreement, employment contract or workplace policy. They also need to make
reasonable efforts to find their employees other jobs either within the
business or within one of its associated entities.
They also need to provide those employees with their correct entitlements,
which may include notice, redundancy pay and payment of any accrued leave
entitlements.
The Fair Work Act protects employees from being dismissed for a number of
reasons, including:

because they are temporarily away from work because they are sick (such as with coronavirus)
discrimination
any reason that is harsh, unjust or unreasonable or another protected right.

Flexibility in the workplace allows employers and employees to make
arrangements about working conditions that suit them. Employers and employees
need to consider and comply with any requirements under the Fair Work Act, an
applicable award, enterprise agreement, employment contract or workplace
policy.
Learn more:

Ending employment and redundancy during coronavirus

Tools:

Notice and Redundancy Calculator


Reviewer feedback on this answer:
The answer is a detailed explanation, but applies more to layoffs than firings.
This answer is excellent because it fully answers the question by providing information as to what is allowed when firing employees during the pandemic.

Reviewer ratings:
Acceptable
Excellent

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Coronavirus and Australian workplace laws
section_headers: Arranging flexible work
section_content: There are a range of flexible working arrangements that employers and
employees can explore together that may suit their individual needs and
circumstances. These include:

working from home
changing the number of hours an employee works
changing the start or finish times of employees' shifts
changing patterns of work, such as rostering arrangements
changing the type of work done by employees.

Flexibility in the workplace allows employers and employees to make
arrangements about working conditions that suit them. Employers and employees
need to consider and comply with any requirements under the Fair Work Act, an
applicable award, enterprise agreement, employment contract or workplace
policy.
Under the new JobKeeper changes to the Fair Work Act, in certain
circumstances, qualifying employers can temporarily change employees’ usual
duties and locations of work, and agree with their employee to change days and
times of work.
Learn more about arranging flexible work during coronavirus:

JobKeeper changes to the Fair Work Act
Alternative work arrangements during coronavirus
Temporary changes to workplace laws during coronavirus

More information:

Flexibility in the workplace
Flexible working arrangements


Reviewer feedback on this answer:
The answer refers to changing employee work situations, not firings.
This answer is bad because it does not focus on firing employees during the pandemic. The answer only talks about how to keep employees working during the pandemic by changing their duties.

Reviewer ratings:
Could be Improved
Bad