Your casual employees may now request to be permanent.
Effective 1 October 2018, the majority of Modern Awards were updated with the insertion of a casual conversion clause.
Employees who meet the eligibility test of a ‘regular casual’ may request to convert from casual to permanent full-time or part-time employment.
A ‘regular casual’ is defined similarly in most awards, however as there are some differences between Awards, employers must check the Modern Award(s) that have coverage over their employees. The new clause does not require you to offer permanent employment to a “regular casual employee”.
Whether or not the employer approves or refuses the request, the decision of the employer must be documented in writing within 21 days of receiving the request from the employee. Refusal of the request can only be made on reasonable grounds after consultation with the employee. Examples of reasonable grounds include:
- it would require a significant adjustment to the casual employee’s hours of work to accommodate them in part-time or full-time employment in accordance with the terms of the applicable modern award; or
- it is known or reasonably foreseeable that the casual employee’s position will cease to exist; or
- the employee’s hours of work will significantly change or be reduced within the next 12 months; or
- on other reasonable grounds based on facts which are known or reasonably foreseeable.
What must Employers do now?
- Review the clauses regarding Casual employees in the updated Awards applicable to your business.
- Provide every casual employee (whether they are likely to meet the definition of a “regular casual employee” or not) with a copy of the clause within the first 12 months of the employee’s first engagement to perform work.
The new clause does not require employers to offer permanent employment to a “regular casual employee’’. However employers must provide:
- all new casual employees with a copy of the casual conversion clause within the first 12 months after their initial engagement. To satisfy this, employers could provide a copy of the clause to a casual employee on commencement of employment and this would satisfy the employer’s obligation under the clause. The onus is then on the employee to write to their employer to request conversion if and when they meet the eligibility criteria under the relevant Award.
- all casual employees already engaged before 1 October 2018 a copy of the clause by 1 January 2019.
Some Modern Awards already included a provision to casual conversion, with some after six months employment, and these Awards remain unaffected by this change to the remaining Awards.
Contact us if you need assistance in the implementation of this key change. Subscribers to Your HRdocs can download an updated Casual Employment Contract Template, a Notification of Casual Conversion Letter and also a Confirmation of Conversion Letter to assist with the implementation of this legislation.