The Fair Work Act 2009 was amended on 26 March 2021 to make changes to workplace rights and obligations for casual employees and these changes apply from 27 March 2021.
The amendment includes a new definition of a casual employee.
An employer (except a small business employer with less than 15 employees) has to offer their casual employee the option to convert to full-time or part-time (permanent) when the employee has worked for them for 12 months, has worked a regular pattern of hours for at least the last 6 of those 12 months on an ongoing basis and could continue working those hours as a permanent employee without significant changes.
There’s now a new proactive obligation on employers, they have an obligation to offer conversion rather than the previous situation of employees making the request.
The obligation to offer casual conversion doesn’t apply to small business employers with less than 15 employees.
There’s also a new Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS), it’s similar to the Fair Work Information Statement (FWIS) and it needs to be given to every new casual employee before, or as soon as possible after, they start their new job. This is in addition to providing the FWIS.
Click HERE for the CEIS below