The High Court last week unanimously held that the Full Federal
Court had erred in its 2020 decision in relation to the status of
Mr Rossato's employment with labour hire firm WorkPac as
casual. The High Court held that Mr Rossato was a casual employee
for the purposes of the National Employment Standards and the
relevant enterprise agreement. On this basis, he was paid a casual
loading and was not entitled to any additional entitlements of the
type successfully claimed in the earlier WorkPac case, WorkPac v
Skene, such as notice, annual and personal leave, and leave
loading.
The High Court reiterated the Full Court's position in an
earlier case (Hamzy v Tricon International Restaurants (2001) 115
FCR 78), that "The essence of casualness is the absence of a
firm advance commitment as to the duration of the employee's
employment or the days (or hours) the employee will work."
