New rights for casuals to become permanent staff

The Fair Work Commission (FWC), in a landmark ruling arising from its quadrennial review into all modern awards, has held that casuals who work regular hours are entitled to request a conversion to permanent status after twelve months of service. An employer may only deny an employee's request on reasonable grounds.

Background

The FWC began by considering the historical development of casual employment in Australia. It noted that, "it is difficult to assign any consistent legal or practical criteria to the concept of casual employment." A casual employee may be legitimately engaged under a succession of fixed-term contracts, or under a single ongoing contract that is terminable without notice. Similarly, casual employment may be utilised for short-term, intermittent and irregular work, or as an alternative legal arrangement for long-term work with regular, rostered hours.