The Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) has now been amended to change workplace rights and obligations for casual employees, and these changes took effect on Saturday 27 March 2021.

Casual Employment Information Statement

New Employees
Employers have to give every new casual employee a Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS) before, or as soon as possible after, they start their new job.

Existing Employees
Employers with less than 15 employees need to give their existing casual employees a copy of the CEIS as soon as possible after 27 March 2021. All other employers need to give their existing casual employees a copy of the CEIS as soon as possible after 27 September 2021.  The CEIS can be provided by hand, by mail, or by email.

Client Members can download the CEIS from within their online account under HR DOCS.

Definition of a casual employee

The Act has been amended to include a new definition of a casual employee.

Under the new definition, a person is a casual employee if they accept a job offer from an employer knowing that there is no firm advance commitment to ongoing work with an agreed pattern of work.

Given the above, it is now of extreme importance that employers enter into written employment agreements with all casual employees that contain clauses reflecting the above.

Our standard Casual Employment Agreement has been amended to comply with the above, and Client Members can access the new Casual Employment Agreement within their online account under HR DOCS.

Offer to convert casual to permanent employee

This part only applies to employers employing 15 or more employees.

An employer must offer their casual employee to convert to full-time or part-time (permanent) when the employee:

• has worked for their employer for 12 months; and
• has worked a regular pattern of hours for at least the last 6 months on an ongoing basis and could continue working those hours as a permanent employee without significant changes.

The above offer must be in writing and comply with the requirements of the Act.

An employer may make a decision not to make the above offer on ‘reasonable grounds’, and this decision also needs to be communicated to the employee in writing after a 12 month period.

The following new templates are now available for Client Members from within their online account:

• Casual Offer to Convert to Permanent Employment
• Decision Not to Offer Permanent Employment