Industrial Relations Advice – Casual Conversion

All large employers (those that employ 15 or more staff) are required to communicate with casual employees every 12 months to advise whether or not they are offering to convert that employee to full time, or part time employment.

Section 66B of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act) requires that an employer must make an offer to convert a casual employee to full time or part time employment if:

• A casual employee has been employed by the employer for a period of 12 months beginning the day the employment started; and
• During at least the last six months of that period, the employee has worked a regular pattern of hours on an ongoing basis which, without significant adjustment, the employee could continue to work as a full time employee or a part time employee (as the case may be).

If you are able to make an offer to convert the employee to full time or part time employment, template contract documents are available from the NBIA to reflect this offer. Please note that your employee is not obligated to accept this offer of conversion. If they refuse the offer, they must continue to be employed on the same basis as previously. Employers are not permitted to terminate an employee, or otherwise harm them in their employment because they have rejected an offer of conversion.

If you are not able to make an offer to convert such an employee because you cannot employ that employee on the same (or similar) hours without significant adjustment over the following 12 months, you do not have to convert them. However, your refusal must be put in writing and provided to the employee no later than 21 days after the anniversary date of their employment as a casual employee.

In any event, all large employers (again, those with 15 or more employees) must provide this advice to their casual employees before the 27 September 2021. Templates have been prepared by the NBIA for your consideration and use for this purpose which is available from the NBIA Membership Portal. 

You may either use the wording in that template, or amend it to suit your particular circumstances, however please seek advice before forwarding an amended version to your employee to ensure you have complied with your statutory obligations.

Small employers (those with fewer than 15 employees) are not required to make the above offer to their staff, however, if an employee requests conversion, they must be provided with written reasons for any refusal in the same way as a large employer. We have prepared a template which may be of assistance in these circumstances and it is available from the NBIA Membership Portal. Again, please seek advice before making any amendments and forwarding to your staff.

Finally, all employers are now required to provide a “Casual Employment Information Statement” to any staff employed as casuals. This must be provided in addition to the “Fair Work Information Statement” which is already a requirement. Links to the appropriate documents can be found on the NBIA Membership Portal.