Do casual employees need a written contract?

Whether or not you have a written contract, you must give a new casual employee, before or as soon as practicable after they start:

• the Fair Work Information Statement, and
• the Casual Employment Information Statement

You can give them in person, by mail, by email, or by emailing a link to the statement on the Fair Work Ombudsman's website. Use the current version at the time you give it.

You must give the Casual Employment Information Statement again later. A small business employer (fewer than 15 employees) gives it again after 12 months of employment. Other employers give it after 6 months, after 12 months, and then after every further 12 months.

Your employee records must also show that the person is casual, and record the hours they work.

A verbal arrangement is legal, but it leaves room for argument later. A written casual contract should cover:

• that the employment is casual, with no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work
• the award and classification that applies
• the pay rate, including the casual loading or the award's casual rate
• how shifts are offered and accepted, and any minimum engagement under the award
• confidentiality, intellectual property and other protections for your business

A contract can't give less than the award or the National Employment Standards. A Sprintlaw lawyer can draft a casual employment contract for your business for a fixed fee.

A person is a casual only if the relationship has no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work, and they are entitled to a casual loading or casual pay rate.

This is judged on the real substance and practical reality of the relationship, including any mutual understanding that develops from how it works in practice. Factors include whether you can choose to offer work and they can choose to decline it, whether ongoing work is likely, whether permanent staff do the same work, and whether there is a regular pattern of work.

A regular roster doesn't on its own make someone permanent. But calling someone casual in a contract won't make them casual if the reality is different.

Someone who starts as a genuine casual stays casual until they change to permanent work through the employee choice pathway, accept a permanent role with you, or their status changes under an award, agreement or Fair Work Commission order.

Since 26 August 2024, casual conversion has been replaced by an "employee choice" pathway. A casual who has worked for you for at least 6 months (12 months if you are a small business) and believes they no longer meet the casual definition can notify you in writing that they want to become permanent.

You must consult with them and respond in writing within 21 days. You can only refuse on limited grounds: they still meet the casual definition, there are fair and reasonable operational grounds, or accepting would breach a recruitment process required by law. A casual can also move to permanent work at any time if you both agree.