Australian law has for a long time recognised the concept of
"casual" employment. It is generally understood that
casual employees are engaged on an "as needed" basis.
There is no obligation on the employer to offer a casual work and,
equally, there is no obligation on the employee to accept work when
offered.
Because of the variable nature of their employment, the Fair
Work Act 2009 excludes casual employees from the benefit of
certain entitlements bestowed on permanent employees under the NES.
For example, under the Act, casual employees are not entitled to
paid personal/carer's leave, annual leave, notice of
termination or redundancy pay.
However, to compensate casual employees for the fact that they
do not receive these entitlements casual employees receive a 25%
"loading" (or uplift) on the minimum wages set for
permanent employees. For award-covered employees the loading is
mandated in the applicable modern award, and for award-free
employees the entitlement
