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Casual Workers

A casual worker is an employee who has no fixed roster or guaranteed hours.

However, just because you are a casual worker it doesn’t mean that you don’t have rights at work.

The SDA has fought to improve the pay and conditions of casual workers which you can read about below.

Full-time and part-time employees have ongoing employment (or a fixed-term contract) and can expect to work regular hours each week. They are entitled to paid personal leave and annual leave.

Full-time and part-time employees must give or receive notice to end their employment.

Casual workers receive a higher hourly pay rate than equivalent full-time or part-time employees.

This is called a ‘casual loading’ and is paid because they don’t receive benefits such as personal or annual leave.

The SDA has recently won increased new casual conversion rights and increased penalty rates for casual workers and continues to fight for stronger rights for casuals.

Casual workers covered by Awards and many Agreements have the right to request to convert to permanent employment if they’ve worked a regular pattern of hours over the past 12 months.

The SDA has the template letters you need to apply to convert to permanent employment.

For assistance with requesting to convert to permanent please contact your local SDA branch.

You can find the contact details of your local branch here.

After 12 months of regular employment and it’s likely that regular employment will continue, casual workers can:

  • request flexible working arrangements
  • take parental leave
  • may accumulate long service leave (depending on State or Territory legislation)
  • Firstly speak to your manager or supervisor to find out why you’re not receiving hours
  • Make sure your availability is up to date and they know you are available for work
  • Contact the SDA if you would like help or support talking to your manager

Casual employees are covered by these laws.

If your hours stop or your employment is terminated after you have done 6 months or more of regular and systematic hours, you may be able to pursue an unfair dismissal claim.

All employees – including casuals – are protected from having their employment terminated for discriminatory or unlawful reasons.

Casual workers have workplace rights and the SDA can help you if a problem comes up at work.

 

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