Millions of Australians have had their work disrupted by the coronavirus crisis — some may be working from home, many have been stood down and others asked to take pay cuts.

Applications for the JobKeeper scheme officially opened on Monday, with employers expected to pass on the $1,500 fortnightly supplement to 6.7 million Australian workers.

Along with JobKeeper came changes to workplace laws, temporarily giving employers more scope to change workers' duties, hours and pay.

So just what can your boss ask you to do and what should you do if you think you're being ripped off?

Can your boss force you to take a pay cut?

Normally, no.

A reduction in pay is a variation of an employment contract, and something that both the employee and the employer need to agree on, so a boss can't unilaterally cut a worker's pay.

Pay also cannot be reduced below the relevant industrial award or enterprise agreement, or the national minimum wage.

However, Patrick Turner, an employment lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, worries that some workers may feel pressure to take a pay cut or lose their job.

"My concern is people may feel compelled to agree to reductions in salary that are permanent and extend beyond this crisis," he said.

"If you're an accountant, let's say, and you're on a salary of $50,000 a year and your employer says, 'We want everyone to take a 20 per cent pay cut,' you're under no obligation to agree to that.

"If you do not agree to that and your employer then terminates your employment, there might be a number of legal remedies available to you."

A current example of a major organisation asking staff to agree to a pay cut is KPMG.

The Australian Financial Review reports that the consulting firm has written to staff seeking their agreement for a 20 per cent pay cut between May and August, asking they respond to 'opt out' if they don't agree.

Changes have been made to several awards, including the hospitality, restaurant and clerks awards, which apply until June 30, making it easier to reduce workers' hours and, therefore, pay.

For example, the clerks award changes mean an employer and employees can agree, via a vote, to a temporary reduction to no less than 75 per cent of normal hours.

What about under JobKeeper?

Under the JobKeeper scheme, things are a bit different. Changes to the Fair Work Act made on April 9 mean employers who qualify for the subsidy scheme can stand an employee down or reduce their shifts, affecting their pay.

"They can issue workers a direction changing their hours or duties but those workers can't be paid at a lower hourly rate than they otherwise would have been," Mr Turner said.

So while your hourly rate must stay the same, the overall amount of money you take home each fortnight can be reduced if your hours are cut.

Employers need to have a legitimate reason for cutting hours and can't just reverse engineer changes to hours so they can pay all their employees the minimum $1,500 a fortnight under JobKeeper, while still maintaining the correct hourly rate.

"The circumstances in which they can ask a worker to do fewer than their ordinary hours include where that employee is not able to be usefully employed for their normal days or hours due to business changes attributable to COVID-19 or government initiatives to reduce the spread of COVID-19," Mr Turner said.

For example, employees at a nail salon or a restaurant can be legitimately stood down, with their hours reduced to zero, because government restrictions have forced those businesses to shut or reduce operations.

Employers must notify and consult with employees in advance and the direction must be in writing.

The changes to the Fair Work Act under JobKeeper are temporary and due to end on September 28, meaning workers' hours and pay should revert to normal after that date.

If you normally earn less than $1,500, do you have to work more hours?

The JobKeeper supplement is a flat $1,500 a fortnight supplement for all eligible workers, meaning that's the minimum your employer can pay you, regardless of your hours.

That includes part-time and certain casual workers, meaning some who are normally paid less than that amount may be getting a temporary boost to their pay packets.

So can your boss ask you to do additional hours or shifts to compensate for the extra amount you'll receive?

"That's not how the supplement is designed to be used," said Mr Turner.

"If an employee is eligible for JobKeeper, the $1,500 cost is covered by the Government — the idea that an employee needs to earn that amount is ridiculous."

Mr Turner is also concerned about employees being asked to hand back part of the $1,500 to their employer, which is against the law and has been described by the Prime Minister as "disgraceful".

The temporary changes to the Fair Work Act don't specify extra powers for an employer to direct an employee to work additional hours.

For casual employees who qualify for the scheme, barrister David Chin says there is nothing in the changes that overrides the normal rights and obligations they have, such as being able to turn down shifts.

"While they remain employed, they are entitled to receive the JobKeeper payment [until] they are otherwise lawfully terminated in regards to their casual arrangements," he said.

Professor Anthony Forsyth from RMIT University agrees that the nature of a casual arrangement remains the same, but says the reality for employees may be different.

"Practically though, I'm sure many casuals will be under pressure to accept whatever shifts are available now."

If your normal job has been disrupted, can you be made to do other duties?

Under the JobKeeper changes, yes, your boss can direct you to do different duties to normal, within certain limits.

The duties must be within your skill and competency, you must hold the required licence or qualification, the duties must be safe (including from the threat of coronavirus) and be within the scope of an employer's business.

The Fair Work Ombudsman gives the example of a warehouse supervisor who is directed to temporarily drive a forklift in the warehouse.

In this instance it's reasonable because the worker has experience driving forklifts, as well as the relevant licence, can adhere to social distancing measures, and using a forklift is part of the warehouse's normal operations.

The employer must pay the worker whichever is higher out of the base rate for their normal role or the rate that applies to the new duties.

A potentially unreasonable request, for example, would be asking a shop assistant to perform maintenance or paint a retail store.

"I think that might run into issues around the skill and competency of the worker. Some of those tasks might normally be carried out by trained tradespeople," said Mr Turner.

"The concern here is that, as with a lot of the new JobKeeper rules, employers will have a lot of power to insist on employees taking up other duties and people who are very keen to retain work will agree to these requests, even though they might ordinarily be unreasonable," Professor Forsyth said.

If your employer is not receiving the $1,500 JobKeeper subsidy on your behalf, you can't be issued with a direction under the temporary changes to workplace laws.

Instead, Mr Turner says you will need to refer to your employment contract, the relevant industrial award or enterprise agreement.

"They may contain a clause that allows an employer to change your duties but often there will be limitations on when they can do that or there may be requirements to get your agreement," he said.

Can you choose to work from home or be forced to go into your workplace?

This will depend on your individual employment contract, award or enterprise agreement. Mr Turner says many have clauses about the location of work and when that can be changed.

However, under JobKeeper, employers can direct an employee to work from somewhere different, including from their home, and not breach one of those clauses.

Like many of the other directions allowed under the changes to the Fair Work Act, there are caveats — the location must be suitable, safe, not require unreasonable travel and be within the scope of the business operations.

And the employer must also believe the direction about where to work is necessary to continue the employment of one or more employees.

"It can't just simply be on a whim of your employer, there needs to be a sound basis for such a direction being made," Mr Turner said.

The normal work health and safety requirements continue to apply when you work from home.

If working from home is not an option for a particular job or business and an employee refuses to turn up for work, they could land in hot water.

"If it's not otherwise unsafe to do so, then their refusal to turn up to work is likely to be a breach and a repudiation of their employment obligations and would make them vulnerable to the employer terminating their employment lawfully," barrister David Chin said.

Separately to JobKeeper, the Government implemented a change to the regulations around enterprise agreements last week, reducing the amount of time required between employees being informed about proposed changes to work conditions and voting on them.

"An employer can effectively ask employees to agree to new (presumably lower) pay rates or other changes to employment conditions under an enterprise agreement and the employees only have 24 hours, instead of seven days, to consider those proposed changes before voting on them," Professor Forsyth said.

Professor Forsyth says these changes are intended to be repealed in six months but the Fair Work Commission can consider applications to approve enterprise agreement variations for a further six months after that.

"The changes made to agreements under these new provisions can live on for two or three years after the legislation stops having effect," he said.

Is it OK for your employer to ask you to take leave?

You can be asked to take leave but you don't necessarily have to say yes.

In normal circumstances, annual leave is taken when agreed upon by an employer and employee, in line with the conditions set out in their contract, award or enterprise agreement.

On April 8, the Fair Work Commission varied 99 awards, providing employees with two weeks of unpaid pandemic leave, and the ability to take twice as much annual leave at half pay, if their employer agrees.

Those changes apply until June 30.

Under JobKeeper, employers can request an employee take paid annual leave, as long as they can keep a leave balance of at least two weeks.

For example, if a worker has four weeks annual leave saved, they could be asked to take two weeks of it, or four weeks at half pay.

If a worker only has three weeks leave accrued, they could be asked to take one week, or two weeks at half pay.

"These flexibility arrangements are not a mandatory direction from the employer," Mr Chin said.

While it needs to be an agreement, the employee is required to consider the request and can't unreasonably refuse it.

"It's a pretty low bar for an employer to get over," Mr Turner said.

If you think something's not right, what can you do?

Workers who want to challenge a direction made by their employer under the JobKeeper law changes can do so through the Fair Work Commission.

The Fair Work Ombudsman provides resources and advice for both employers and employees.

A lot of the changes come down to reasonableness, and that's something Mr Chin says will require a legal assessment of the facts of a specific case.

Mr Turner says workers can contact their union for advice if they're feeling pressured to accept a pay cut or change in conditions.

"It's never been more important for people to act as a collective and work together, your bargaining power is greater when you're part of a group," Mr Turner said.

"People do need to speak to lawyers, decisions that are being made now could affect people for the rest of their career, they shouldn't be made lightly and they shouldn't be made without getting advice first."