CASUALS LAWS CHANGE IN TWO WEEKS

New laws regarding the employment of casual staff are set to come into play in two weeks’ time, 26 August, laws which are aimed to make it easier for casual staff to transfer to permanent.

Currently under the Fair Work Act and the Graphic Arts, Printing and Publishing Award, casual employees who have been employed for a period of 12 months or more, and who have had regular shifts for at least the last six months of the 12 month period, are potentially eligible to have their employment converted to permanent full-time or part-time status, by the employer.

An employer does not have to offer the conversion, and is able to refuse on reasonable business grounds, although they need to explain, and in writing, why conversion to permanent status cannot be offered.

However, from a week on Monday, 26 August, the casual conversion pathway will change. Under the ‘Closing the Loopholes’ legislative amendments, the onus will now be on the employee to request conversion to permanent status.

The employee will need to have been employed for half the time, just six months, or 12 months if in a small business, generally one of less than 15 staff. Once a casual employee makes a request for conversion to permanent, the employer must consult with the employee and formally respond, within 21 days, to the request.

Any rejection of such a request must include a reason that is based on ‘fair and reasonable operational related grounds’. Although these changes will commence from 26 August, there will be a transitional period where the current provisions will continue to apply for existing casual employees.

Fair Work Commission says small businesses in the printing sector must familiarise themselves with these changes, as the new pathway has been introduced for eligible employees to request a switch to permanent employment, replacing the current casual conversion rules.

Employers can refuse a request to convert if the employee still meets the casual definition – meaning the employment relationship has no firm advance commitment to ongoing work, and the employee is entitled to a casual loading or specific casual pay rate under an award, registered agreement, or employment contract.

Employers can also refuse if there are substantial operational grounds, such as impacts on business operations, or substantial changes to employment conditions that could lead to non-compliance with existing awards or agreements.

These amendments are expected to reshape employment dynamics in industries reliant on casual labour. The Fair Work Commission advises employers to review their workforce management strategies to understand the implications of these changes on employment relations.

Charles Watson, GM of IR, Policy and Governance at the Visual Media Association, said, “The new pathway will place the onus to initiate the conversion process on the casual employee once certain thresholds are met. From an employer’s perspective, the amendments are likely to ease the current administratively burdensome process of having to diarise when to discuss the conversion option with casual employees.

“Employers must be prepared to consult with their employees on related requests, and have defensible reasons if they do not agree to such a request. Broadly speaking, it may be acceptable to reject the conversion request if substantial changes would be required to the way in which work in the employer's enterprise is organised, and such changes would be impracticable. Each request should be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Further, employers should be aware the Commission can step in and arbitrate if the matter cannot be resolved at a workplace level.

 “Although the onus to request conversion will be on the employee, employers will have a new related obligation that could be easily overlooked. From 26 August, and in addition to providing every new casual employee with a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement before or upon commencement of employment, will be the requirement to also provide them with a copy of the new Casual Employment Information Statement. In addition that statement will need to be provided to both new and existing casual employees again at six months of employment, at twelve months of employment, and every subsequent twelve months thereafter. For businesses with less than 15 employees, the requirement will only be once every twelve months.”