In the past few months, there has been a flurry of activity,
discussion and legal changes in relation to casual employees.
This article will tell you what you need to know.
Traditional definition of casual employment
re-asserted
The recent case of
WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene [2018] FCAFC 131
(see our recent article: When is a 'casual' worker not
actually classed as a casual?) saw the Full Bench of the
Federal Court overturning decisions of the Fair Work Commission, when it
held that a "casual" employee was an employee who did not
have a regular pattern of work, or a reasonable expectation of
ongoing work.
This confirmed the commonly held view of what a
"casual" employee is, and was in contrast to the
definition of a casual employee proposed by the employer in the
case (and previously endorsed by the Fair Work Commission), which
in essence was that if an employer classified an employee as
"casual" (whether in writing or not), and paid the
employee by the hour
