The minimum wage for casual employees in the state industrial relations system is being increased and there will be a new test for determining if a worker’s employment is casual employment. See Upcoming changes to state employment laws.
In the WA state industrial relations system, a casual worker is an employee employed on a casual basis, with no guarantee of ongoing work. A casual employee may work on an irregular basis as needed, and may generally be able to refuse work for a particular shift / day.
Offering casual employment may be a useful option for employers to consider for:
- busy times or peak periods that require a larger workforce;
- seasonal work;
- replacing other employees who are sick or on leave for short periods of time; or
- where the business has variable staffing demands.
An employee receiving regular ongoing work with consistent hours may not be casual, but instead a full time or part time employee. Employers can potentially be liable for back pay of unpaid leave entitlements if an employee is working regular hours on a long-term basis. This will depend on the individual circumstances.
Minimum entitlements for casual employees
In the WA state industrial relations system, casual employees are entitled to:
- paid bereavement leave;
- paid and unpaid family and domestic violence leave; and
- unpaid personal leave for caring purposes;
- unpaid parental leave if they have been employed for at least 12 months and have a reasonable expectation of continuing engagement by the employer on a regular and systematic basis; and
- paid long service leave if they have the required period of continuous service.
Casual employees are not entitled to paid personal or annual leave.
A casual employee is paid a casual loading with the minimum casual loading currently being 20%. The minimum rates of pay for casuals who are not covered by a WA award are on Minimum pay rates for award free employees.
WA award provisions for casual employees
WA awards usually require casual employees to be paid a casual loading of 20% or 25%.
Many WA awards require employers to pay penalty rates (higher pay rates) for casuals working at particular times, and may specify a minimum number of hours in a shift a casual employee can work, as well as restrict how long an employee can be employed as a casual.
