The new Casual Employment Information Statement

Most people are now familiar with the Fair Work Information Statement.

For those that aren’t, section 124 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) requires the Fair Work Ombudsman to prepare a statement containing information about, among other things, the National Employment Standards, modern awards and termination of employment.

Section 125 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) also requires an employer to give each employee a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement before, or as soon as practicable after, the employee starts employment. In order to comply with this obligation, most employers will include the Fair Work Information Statement as an attachment to each employment contract.

But have you heard of the Casual Employment Information Statement?

This is one of many changes proposed by the federal government’s new Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020, which would insert a new section 125B into the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) which would require an employer to provide employees with a statement containing information about casual employment and offers and requests for casual conversion. This would include information about:

• the new statutory meaning of casual employee;
• an employer’s requirement to offer conversion to permanent employment to certain casual employees within 21 days after the employee has completed 12 months of employment;
• an employer’s ability not to make an offer for casual conversion if there are reasonable grounds to do so and the employer’s obligation to notify the employee of these grounds;
• certain casual employees having a residual right to request casual conversion; and
• the power of the Fair Work Commission to deal with disputes about casual conversion.

If the Bill passes both houses of parliament, the Fair Work Ombudsman will again need to prepare and publish this statement for employers. As with the Fair Work Information Statement, the new Casual Employment Information Statement can be provided to new casual employees as an attachment to their employment contract.

Further updates about the progress of the Bill will be provided as it makes its way through federal parliament over the coming months.

Disclaimer: This article should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended as such. If readers wish to obtain advice about anything contained in this article, they should speak with a lawyer and discuss their individual circumstances.