Casual Employment - Benefits and Entitlements

​What is casual employment?

The latest statistics by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that casual employees make up more than 20% of all employees in Australia.

A definition of casual employee was first introduced to the Fair Work Act 2009 (the Act) on 27 March 2021. When first introduced, the definition required consideration of the terms of the contact of employment, rather than subsequent conduct of the employee and employer.

The definition in the Act changed from 26 August 2024. Much like the previous definition, the new definition depends on whether the employment relationship is “characterised by an absence of a firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work”. The most significant change is that the new definition does not limit consideration to the contract of employment, and requires examination of the “real substance, practical reality and true nature of the employment relationship.” This could include post-employment conduct and any mutual understandings that are not contractual in effect.

Casual employee entitlements

Whilst casual employees do not receive some entitlements available to permanent employees such as annual leave and personal leave, they do generally receive a ‘casual loading’ to compensate for these benefits. That said, casual employees are still entitled to several National Employment Standard (the NES) entitlements.

Many of the minimum entitlements in the NES apply to casual employees, for example:

• requests for flexible working arrangements

• unpaid parental leave

• unpaid carer‘s leave

• paid family and domestic violence leave and

• unpaid jury service leave

Some of these entitlements, such as requests for flexible work and parental leave, are only available to a ‘regular casual employee’ who has been employed for at least 12 months on a regular and systematic basis. Casual employees are also entitled to bringing unfair dismissal claims if they have been a regular casual employee for at least the minimum employment period (6 months for most employers, 12 months for small business employers).

Casual employees may also be entitled to paid long service leave in accordance with the relevant state or territory long service leave legislation or industrial instrument.

Further, all casual employees are covered by the general protections established by the Act, including those protections against discriminatory termination of employment. Casual employees are also entitled to the benefit of the various anti-discrimination statutes that apply in all States.

Under the NES, a casual employee is not entitled to:

• paid annual leave

• paid personal/carer’s leave

• paid public holidays

• paid jury service

• notice of termination or

• redundancy pay

What is a ‘regular casual employee’?

Several entitlements in the Fair Work Act 2009 depend on an employee having been a ‘regular casual employee’ for a certain period, including entitlements to casual conversion, requests for flexible working arrangements, parental leave and unfair dismissal.

A regular casual employee is defined as a casual employee that has been employed on a ‘regular and systematic basis’. 

There is no definition of what constitutes a ‘regular and systematic basis’ in the Act, but industrial tribunals have identified a variety of indicators of regular and systematic employment, including:

• if work is on a regular basis as predetermined

• if the employee expects to be offered some work each week

• if work is scheduled according to a regular method and system

Benefits of Casual Employment

Casual employment provides benefits to both the employee and employer.

For employers, casual employment has several advantages. It provides significant flexibility, allowing employers to rapidly adjust staffing levels to match fluctuations in demand. Furthermore, casual employment provides administrative convenience through reduced paperwork and no leave accrual, with the latter providing financial relief though the absence of leave liabilities.

For employees, casual employment provides flexibility in the way they choose to work, higher hourly pay in some circumstances, an opportunity to experience a variety of different workplaces and cultures and the autonomy to accept or decline shifts based on their circumstances and lifestyle choices.

If you would like to know more about how Impact can partner with you to build a winning team supplemented by casuals, or if you are wanting to join our winning team as a casual team member, contact Impact today to find out more!