18 March 2022
There has been a lot of hype in the media lately about Casual Employees. Both good and bad. Fair Work has finally published some information around what defines a Casual Employee. It’s still a little ambiguous but nonetheless, it’s a start!
With that being said, what actually is a Casual Employee? The easiest way to think of it is someone who works unsystematic and irregular shifts with no ongoing promise of work beyond the last time they worked.
Sounds simple right?
But what constitutes regular and systematic work and for how long is that allowed to go on for?
How does that work in a practical sense?
It can be confusing to say the least. So, to help manage this and provide a framework, many of the Modern Awards have a clause which is known as Casual Conversion.
Casual Conversion, in a sense, is the Employee’s right to convert to a permanent employee if they have (and depending on the award) worked a minimum of 6/12 months on a regular and systematic basis. What this means is that an Employer needs to ask an Employee if they’d like to convert their employment status. The Employee does not have to agree if they don’t want to, but the Employer must ask and must have proof of making that request to the Employee.
Here at Now Actually, we have a framework to support this process. If you have never done this and have long term casuals, now is the time to act. Let us, help you. The cost of non-compliance may see you having to pay out your Casual Employees specific entitlements that they would have been otherwise entitled to if the process had occurred. This is not a smart business decision.
Many businesses are finding it challenging to recruit Employees, especially those with a large casual workforce. Think hospitality, cleaning and retail. They are all suffering, so they don’t need another layer of complexity on top of that for non-compliance of casual conversion.
Why not share this article with your favourite café? We’d hate for you to have to go without your morning coffee.
Want more info? Email [email protected].
