This week's top stories in brief

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Workplace lawyers have clarified some of the confusion surrounding the JobKeeper scheme, which has come under fire for its lack of clarity. Kingston Reid partner Christa Lenard and special counsel Katie Sweatman say employers can face "pretty big sticks" for nominating too many – or too few – of their workers.

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New research suggests the employment impacts of COVID-19 will be higher than previously estimated, with up to 26% of employees out of work in coming weeks. Also in this article: a framework for long-term remote working success; how grads will be "scarred" by their labour market entry; employees "confused" about JobKeeper; and more.

Many employers now have concerns about maintaining the productivity of their remote workforces, but this is absolutely not the time to introduce higher levels of monitoring, says Martin Edwards, from the University of Queensland's Business School. Organisations should be wary not to overcompensate for the lack of face-to-face contact with employees with electronic monitoring because this is a counterproductive response.

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Employer branding remains critical in a downturn and in our new webcast, Peak Corporate Solutions director Malcolm Peak sets out some guiding principles. He also discusses how branding reflects organisations' core values; the impact of managers' behaviour on employer branding; and specific brand attributes and imagery that now require a rethink.

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The Fair Work Commission has handed down its first rulings on COVID-19 redundancy pay reductions, upholding one employer's application to reduce the figure due to its financial hardship, but rejecting another employer's plea.

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In a case with particular relevance given current hiring delays and uncertainty, the Federal Court has rejected that an employer took unlawful adverse action when it rescinded a candidate's job offer.

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