Australia has reached a pinnacle moment in the development of the law of casual employment. This moment has been marked by the introduction of an Industrial Relations Omnibus Bill in late 2020 that provided Australia's first statutory definition of casual employment. It has also been marked by the very recent High Court decision in Workpac Pty Ltd v Rossato & Ors [2020] FCAFC (the Workpac case) on Wednesday 4 August 2021.
The High Court has upheld the challenge by Workpac and overturned the original decision of the full Federal Court to find that Mr Rossato was a casual employee, who was not entitled to paid permanent entitlements.
The Original Decision
To recap the facts of the initial Workpac case, Mr Rossato had been employed under contract by the labour hire company Workpac Pty Ltd (Workpac) as a ‘casual' employee. He was paid the 25 per cent casual loading on his wage and was engaged to work on six successive contracts across four years.
