Casual employees who have worked for their employer for 12 months need to be offered the option to convert to full-time or part-time (permanent) employment by their employer. Certain eligibility requirements need to be met for this to occur.
Casual Employees vs Permanent Employees
The NES provides that casual employees are entitled to: access a pathway to become a permanent employee (after 12 months of service); two days unpaid carer's leave and two days unpaid compassionate leave; five days unpaid family and domestic violence leave (in 12 months); and.
A casual employee can change to full-time or part-time employment at any time if the employer and employee both agree to it. Under the NES, casual employees have the right to access a pathway to become a permanent full-time or part-time employee, in some circumstances. This is also known as 'casual conversion'.
An employee can work a maximum of 38 hours in a week unless an employer asks them to work reasonable extra hours.
Do casual employees get paid overtime? Yes, casual employees are entitled to overtime pay. If you work more than 38 hours per week or more than 12 hours per day, then you should receive an Award payment for overtime.
The right to refuse
Some employment contracts may specify a minimum notice period for refusing a shift, such as 24 or 48 hours. While there is no legal requirement for casual employees to provide a specific amount of notice, it is generally considered good practice to give your employer as much notice as possible.
The loading is usually 25%, which means that if a casual worker's hourly rate of pay is $20, they will receive $25 per hour for any overtime worked. It is worth noting that some industries have different rules regarding overtime pay for casual workers.
What are the maximum hours for a shift? In Australia, the maximum number of ordinary hours a casual employee can work is 12 hours in a day or shift. A casual employee must have time off after this and there must be time for meal breaks. This averages about 38 hours over a 4-week roster cycle or a 9.5 hour week.
Long term casuals are casual employees who have worked on a casual basis for a long period of time. Long term casuals have the same employment rights as any casual worker as well as additional entitlements as a result of their ongoing work.
Maximum hours for casual employees
The maximum number of hours you're allowed to work per week as a casual employee is 38 hours. There can be potential to work more than 38 hours a week if the work provided by your employer is deemed reasonable.
As such, employers have the flexibility to allocate work as required. Furthermore, if a team member is truly a casual employee as per the Fair Work Ombudsman's (FWO) criteria, then termination of that team member can occur without notice.
If you have a second job your second employer is required to withhold tax at the higher 'no tax-free threshold' rate. This reduces the likely hood of you having a tax debt at the end of the financial year.
Full-time employees have more entitlements compared to casual employees e.g. annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave etc. Your business will always need to pay salaries, even during quiet periods in your business.
A casual worker can also work for fixed hours for a short-term contract, but the contract must be for less than one year to fit the “casual” criteria. Don't get confused: if a casual worker works in an ongoing, regular pattern, that makes them a permanent part-time employee.
Key Differences Between Permanent, Casuals, and Fixed Term
Both permanent and regular and systematic casuals become entitled to claim unfair dismissal after their minimum employment period. Permanent employees, in contrast, have an expectation of ongoing work from their initial engagement, whereas casuals do not.
A casual employee has no guaranteed hours of work, or regular pattern of work, and has no ongoing expectation of employment. If you are truly a casual the employer has no obligation to offer you work. There can be a thin line between permanent and casual employment.
What rights do my long-term casual employees have? Long-term casual employees have the right to be offered permanent employment, request flexible working arrangements, and take unpaid parental leave. Additionally, in some states, long-term casuals can take paid long service leave.
Casual work may allow employees to pick what hours they work, which may improve their work-life balance. Some casual employees may set their own weekly schedules. They may choose which days they work and for how long. This can leave more time for other areas, such as hobbies, family and friends.
The main difference between casual and permanent employment is that a permanent employee has an expectation of ongoing work. In particular, with respect to part-time employees, many modern awards require part-time employment contracts to outline the days, hours and start and finishing times of part-time employees.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that a normal work shift is no more than 8 consecutive hours in a day, with each shift split by at least 8 hours of rest. A normal workweek is 5 such work days. However, this is not binding. OSHA does not penalize employers who demand more.
The current Aussie minimum wage (as of 1 July 2021) for adult workers who are not covered by an award or agreement is $772.60 per full-time week or $20.33 per hour (before tax). Casual workers receive an additional loading of 25% on top of this base rate, or $25.41 per hour.
There is no set standard for casual employee minimum hours across all industries, although many modern awards specify a minimium number of hours for set industries. These can vary greatly, from as little as two or three hours, to as many as eight hours per day.
Unlike other loadings, super is generally not paid on overtime loadings. This can cause a lot of confusion. However, a simple chat with one of the Account Managers at TWUSUPER should help you get on the right track.
It doesn't matter whether you have a full time, part-time or casual job, if you're over 18 your employer should pay super contributions for you.