Employers 'need to be proactive in how they can prepare for it,' says lawyer offering tips for HR
New changes have come into force for some casual workers – making it easier for them to become part- or full-time employees.
From 26 February 2025, eligible casual workers can provide their employer with written notice to change to full-time or part-time employment under a new employee choice pathway, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman. An employer can only refuse the notice for certain reasons.
And that means greater power for the employee, according to Adam Battagello, Special Counsel for Lander and Rogers’ Workplace Relations and Safety team.
“Casual conversion is nothing new. It hasn’t radically introduced something that wasn’t already known – but what it has done is transition the initiative for the process to the employee,” he said.
“Usually, it’s your boss that would have to deal with all of this. Now, it’s all down to them.”
The changes are part of the government’s Closing Loopholes Act 2023 (and Closing Loopholes No. 2 Act 2024) which aims to introduce a general protection for workplace delegates when carrying out their role at a workplace, the website says.
The new employment framework, whilst not revolutionary, could change the way recruiting is done – because of the higher threshold for rejecting notifications of a change in employment.
“The bar is going to be pretty high for the answer to be no. It needs to be more than just mere inconvenience for the employer, of going through the rigmarole of bringing on a new employee.” Battagello said.
The reason for a rejection needs to be legitimate and well-articulated, he continued.
Whilst the employer has less to do – as the process now falls to the employee – systems still need to be put int place to make sure everyone’s happy and that employers are prepared, he said.
“When it comes to this conversion, businesses should not be thinking about this when they get the notice to convert. Systems need to be in place, because there’s an expectation for it to be considered and responded to within 21 days. There are consequences if they don’t.”
“By the time you get the notice, you should have a pretty formed view as to whether or not this is something the business can accommodate,” he said.
In short, these new changes mean employees could have greater control over their employment, if certain criteria are met – but most of the onus to bring these applications up now falls on their shoulders.
Under the changes, employees must have worked for more than six months – or 12 months if employers have fewer than 15 staff. Any work by the employee before 26 August 2024 does not count for eligibility to access the employment pathway.
The new framework also states the employee:
must believe they no longer meet the definition of a casual employee
must not have a current dispute about changing to permanent employment directly with their employer
mustn’t have had any previous notification refused about changing to permanent employment in the last six months.
“As a business, if we have casual employees, we should expect that these [employment conversion notices] can and will come – they just need to be proactive in how they can prepare for it,” Battagello said.
