Recent News

Ask a Question
Home > Employee Rights > Rights of casual employees

Rights of casual employees

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Casual-employee-dismissed,-asking-why.-Casual-employees-have-certain- rights.
Casual employee is sacked, asking why. Casual employees have certain rights, but not totally the same as a permanent employee. No one can be discriminated against, regardless of status or length of service.

Rights of casual employees

Casual employees make up a significant proportion of the Australian workforce. In 2018, 25% of the Australian workforce were casual employees, with this remaining consistent since. Many casual employees believe that due to the casual nature of their employment, they do not have as many employment rights. Employers often take advantage of the fact that casual employees will not enforce their Rights as of a casual employee. Many employees do not pursue an unfair dismissal claim thinking they simply don’t stand a chance because they are employed on a casual basis.

This is worrying, as casual employees are disproportionately vulnerable. For example, they tend to be younger, with little savings. Casual employment is also more common in lower-paid industries such as hospitality, retail and aged care. A higher percentage of casuals have English as their second language

However, there are several casual employment rights under the Fair Work Act 2009. It is unlawful for an employer to prevent a casual employee from exercising these or to treat them poorly if they do. Legal recourse is available if this does occur. This article will outline some casual employment rights below.

Employee-looking-at-her-phone.
Lawfully sacked by text message, is this fair? Many shorter term employees get mistreated.

What is a Casual Employee under the Fair work Act?

Meaning of casual employee

             (1)  A person is a casual employee of an employer if:

                     (a)  an offer of employment made by the employer to the person is made on the basis that the employer makes no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work for the person; and

                     (b)  the person accepts the offer on that basis; and

                     (c)  the person is an employee as a result of that acceptance.

             (2)  For the purposes of subsection (1), in determining whether, at the time the offer is made, the employer makes no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work for the person, regard must be had only to the following considerations:

                     (a)  whether the employer can elect to offer work and whether the person can elect to accept or reject work;

                     (b)  whether the person will work as required according to the needs of the employer;

                     (c)  whether the employment is described as casual employment;

                     (d)  whether the person will be entitled to a casual loading or a specific rate of pay for casual employees under the terms of the offer or a fair work instrument.

Note:          Under Division 4A of Part 2-2, a casual employee who has worked for an employer for at least 12 months and has, during at least the last 6 months of that time, worked a regular pattern of hours on an ongoing basis may be entitled to be offered, or request, conversion to full-time employment or part-time employment.

             (3)  To avoid doubt, a regular pattern of hours does not of itself indicate a firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work.

             (4)  To avoid doubt, the question of whether a person is a casual employee of an employer is to be assessed on the basis of the offer of employment and the acceptance of that offer, not on the basis of any subsequent conduct of either party.

             (5)  A person who commences employment as a result of acceptance of an offer of employment in accordance with subsection (1) remains a casual employee of the employer until:

                     (a)  the employee‘s employment is converted to full-time or part-time employment under Division 4A of Part 2-2; or

                     (b)  the employee accepts an alternative offer of employment (other than as a casual employee) by the employer and commences work on that basis.

FAIR WORK ACT 2009 – SECT 15A

To be clear casual employment is defined under the Fair Work Act as being where:

  • An offer of employment is made
  • The offer is made on the basis that the employer makes no firm advance commitment to continuing or indefinite employment. (not on rosters as an example, daily hire)
  • The employee accepts the offer on this basis.

An employee may have a regular pattern of hours. This does not mean there is a firm advance commitment to continuing or indefinite employment. There are only two ways to become a permanent employee. First, converting casual employment to permanent employment. Second, accepting a different offer of employment.

Rights-of-casual-employees.-Casuals-are-subjected-to-a-more-toxic-workplace-culture.
Casuals are subjected to a more toxic workplace culture. An example of this is workers compensation claims are higher amongst casual employees than permanent employees. They don’t get the same OH&S training. Employers don’t put the same effort in as the thinking is casuals are only there on a temporary basis.

Converting Casual Employment

One of the casual employment rights is to have causal employment converted to permanent employment. An employer MUST offer to convert casual employment to permanent employment where the employee has been employed for 12 months and during the last six months, the employee has worked a regular pattern of hours on an ongoing basis.

Whether the offer is for full-time or part-time employment will depend on the regular pattern of hours.

Leave

Casual employees are not entitled to paid leave. However, casual employment rights include requesting:

  • 2 days unpaid carer’s leave
  • 2 days unpaid compassionate leave
  • 5 days family and domestic violence leave
  • Reasonable time for community service leave (e.g. jury duty)

A casual employee must tell their employer as soon as possible that they plan to take leave, and how much leave is being taken. An employer is allowed to ask for evidence in relation to this leave, which the casual employee must provide.

Maximum Weekly Hours

While casual employment hours might not be fixed, employers must not take advantage of this. One of the casual employment rights is to work no more than 38 per week, where this is reasonable. This amount includes unpaid leave. Whether working above 38 hours is unreasonable will depend on a variety of factors, such as:

  • Risk to health and safety
  • The employee’s personal circumstances
  • The employer’s needs
  • The usual trends of work in the industry.

If it is unreasonable to work more than this amount, a casual employee has the right to refuse to do so.

employee-treated-like-school-children
Casual employees employee treated like school children. Employers don’t want to invest in training, skilling casual employees. Easier to yell, abuse, mistreat casual employees , knowing in many cases they have limited rights.

Flexible Working Arrangements

Casual employment rights include being able to request flexible working arrangements. These requests can only be made in certain circumstances. Thus far, COVID-19-related excuses are not mentioned in the Fair Work Act. For a casual employee to make a request for flexible working arrangements, they must have been employed for 12 months. They must also reasonably expect to continue regular and systematic employment.

The casual employee must also have one of the following apply:

  • They are a parent of a child of school age or younger
  • They are a carer
  • They have a disability
  • They are 55 years of age or older
  • They are experiencing family violence
  • They provide care to someone in their household who is experiencing family violence

A casual employee can exercise these casual employment rights by making a request in writing which details why the request is being made.

Working on public holidays

One of the general casual employment rights is to refuse to work on a public holiday. This is subject to a reasonable request by an employer. A request will be reasonable depending on various factors, including:

  • The nature of the employment
  • The employee’s personal circumstances
  • Whether the employee is entitled to additional remuneration
  • The amount of notice given

If the public holiday falls on a day which the casual employee usually works, their casual employment rights include being paid for their ordinary hours of work that day.

Letter-of-termination.-Been-dismissed
Been dismissed, letter of termination. Many employers just reduce your hours, hoping you just leave. Or simply forget about you. Your sitting at home wanting for work hours that are never going to eventuate.

Notice of Termination

A casual employee has casual employment rights regarding termination and redundancy pay. If a casual employee’s employment is terminated, they have the right to be given or paid notice. This depends on the length of service. For example, if the employee has worked one year, the notice period is one week.

If a casual employee has no right to be paid redundancy pay. (unless there is a industrial instrument or award that indicates redundancy is paid to casuals.

Legal Action Against Employers

It is a common misconception that casual employees have no way to enforce their casual employment rights. This is not the case. There are several avenues available to casual employees who have been treated unlawfully. These include unfair dismissal and general protections applications in the Fair Work Commission, and discrimination claims.

A casual employee can bring an unfair dismissal claim against their employer if they have worked for their employer for 6 months (or 12 months for a small business). This is providing the work is on a regular and systematic basis. Rosters, same days every week, guaranteed hours over the week. There is no one rule as to how this is measured. Also you have rights during a workplace investigation, how do i know its fair, for more information, call us.

The casual employee must prove the dismissal was harsh, unjust, or unreasonable. Alternatively, a casual employee can make general protections claim. A benefit is that there is no minimum period of employment.

Excising a right (adverse action)

General protections claims require proving that an employer took adverse action against an employee for exercising a workplace right. Workplace rights include the casual employment rights listed above. What is the most common ground is a employee has complained to the company about something legitimate and was dismissed for complaining. (an obvious example is to complain about an aspect of safety. Its clearly going to cost the company money to rectify the issue so they dismiss the employee who complained the company thinking the problem has now gone away.

If a casual employee experienced discrimination based on sex, race, disability, age and so forth, they can also bring an anti-discrimination claim in the relevant human rights commission. Again, there is no minimum employment period for this.

dismissed-and-how-you-feel
Many employers simply don’t want to hear casual workers concerns. They are not part of the permanent work force. Despite some casual workers having been at the company for many. Where’s my shifts

Conclusion to Rights of casual employees

To wrap up, casual employees should be aware of their casual employment rights. This article has provided an overview of some of these. If an employer refuses to respect these rights, legal action can protect casual employees. This is especially important as casual employment remains a common type of employment. A lot of people like the ability to be casually employed, but everybody wants to be treated with respect. Not go to work in a toxic workplace.

What has slowly happened in Australian workplaces over the last 30 years is to now have different classes of employees, with different pay grades, rights and conditions for in many many cases exactly the same work.

  1. Permanent employees
  2. Casual employees
  3. Contractor’s or labor hire employees.

Companies clearly in many cases have a legitimate need for a flexible, dynamic workforce. They want the ability to respond to company needs as quickly as possible. Industry in Australia is struggling to compete with overseas companies. But lets be honest many companies “game” the system. At least be aware of the rights you have available to you.

Casual worker rights issues, abandonment of employment, adverse action, workplace harassment, Call us for free confidential advice. on 1800 333 666. we are not lawyers, but Australia’s most outspoken commentators, we are here for you.

Articles similar to Rights of casual employees

Casual employee rights

Sick leave

Unfair dismissals, no win, no fee

False accusations at work


More to explore

Boss-telling-a-pregnant-employee-off
Unfair Dismissal

Dismissed for pregnancy or maternity leave

Discover real-life cases of pregnancy-related dismissal in the workplace. From Mecca Cosmetica’s legal battle to widespread discrimination, learn about your rights and how to take action. If you’ve faced unfair dismissal due to pregnancy or maternity leave, we shed light on your options. Knowledge is power! 💪🤰

employee-asleep-overworkered
Employee Rights

What Does it Mean to Disconnect from Work

Your employee rights explained outside work hours In a recent proposed change to the Fair Work Act 2009, employees will be protected against employers trying

Employer-looking-at-their-profits.
Unfair Dismissal

Billionaire and unfair dismissals

Discover the truth behind billionaire business practices and their impact on dismissed workers. Explore recent cases, employee rights, and the role of the Fair Work Commission. Dive into the world of unfair dismissals and workplace justice.

Female-employee-making-false-accusations
Unfair Dismissal

Falsely accused at work: 3 crazy cases

Unmasking Workplace Injustice: Shocking Cases of False Accusations. We share shocking cases of false accusations at work that led to devastating consequences for employees

Employee-being-flicked-out-the-door
Unfair Dismissal

4 huge Vic unfair dismissal payouts

Victorian unfair dismissals: 4 times workers won big Victorian unfair dismissal payouts have in recent years regularly been amongst the highest in the country. In

    whole
    Get In Touch

     

    Unfair Dismissals Australia is an industry leader. We strictly represent employees regarding issues to do with fair work. We are available 7 days a week.