Casual Employment Changes

There have been several recent changes to casual employment laws, including:

·         how casual employees are defined; and

·         the pathway to full-time and/or part-time conversion.

Changes to how casual employees are defined

From 26 August 2024, a new casual employee definition was introduced to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act), which changed the test applicable to casual employees. Under the new definition, a casual employee is characterised by the absence of a firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work and they must be entitled to receive a casual loading or specific casual pay rate.

Employees classified as casual who were with their employer before 26 August 2024 will stay casual under the new definition unless they move to permanent employment.

Action: please review your casual employment contracts to ensure that this wording is used.

Changes to casual conversion to full-time or part-time employment

From 26 August 2024, employees will now be able to seek to be converted to permanent employees or apply to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to change their employment status if their employer will not agree to the conversion.

Casuals who have worked for six months, or 12 in the case of a small business, and have had a regular pattern of shifts can seek to convert to a permanent role. Employers can still refuse the request on “fair and reasonable operational grounds”, however now the FWC can make an order overruling the employer’s refusal (and effectively deem the casual to be permanent).

The FWC will also be given additional powers to deal with disputes regarding casual employment.

Action: review your current processes to ensure that you remain compliant with the new laws.

Casual Employment Information Statement

Employers will also be required to provide casual employees with a Casual Employee Information Statement after they complete 12 months of employment (for small business employers) and for other employers after 6 and 12 months of employment and then after every 12 months of employment.

The Causal Employment Information Statement is accessible here https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/information-statements/casual-employment-information-statement

Action: review your current processes to ensure that you remain compliant with the new laws.