If your business hires casual employees, there’s a good chance the rules have changed since you last looked.
These changes occurred in August 2024, which means by now they’re not just on the horizon. They’re active, enforceable and being checked. If you haven’t updated how you onboard, classify or manage your casual team, it might be time to hit pause and review your setup.
Let’s walk through what’s changed, what’s expected now and how you can stay compliant without creating more admin headaches.
Table of Contents
- What Changed with Casual Employment?
- What is the CEIS (and why does it matter)?
- When Do You Need to Give it Out?
- Who’s Actually Considered a Casual Now?
- What is the New Casual-to-Permanent Process?
- What Happens if You Get it Wrong?
- What Should Employers Do Now?
- How Carbon Can Support Your Business
- Need Help Navigating Casual Employment Compliance?
What Changed with Casual Employment?
On 26 August 2024, the Fair Work Act got a major update through the Closing Loopholes reforms. These changes reshaped how casual employment works in Australia and introduced:
- A new definition of a casual employee
- A new employee-driven pathway to move from casual to permanent
- New rules around the Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS), which employers must give out at specific times
These changes apply across all states and territories, including WA, as long as your business is part of the national workplace relations system. That’s most private businesses, including Pty Ltd companies.
What is the CEIS (and why does it matter)?
The Casual Employment Information Statement is a Fair Work document that explains:
- Who counts as a casual employee
- How and when a casual can request to go permanent
- What reasons an employer can give for saying no
- Where to go if there’s a dispute
When Do You Need to Give it Out?
The CEIS isn’t a one-time thing. Here’s the current schedule:
| Business Type | When CEIS Must be Issued |
|---|---|
| All Employers | At the Start of Casual Employment |
| Small Business (>15 staff) | After 12 Months Only |
| Non-Small Business (15+ Staff) | After 6 months, 12 months and every 12 months after that/td> |
Who’s Actually Considered a Casual Now?
Under the updated definition, someone is only a casual employee if:
- There’s no firm advance commitment to ongoing work, and
- They receive a casual loading or specific casual rate under an award or agreement
That means contracts alone won’t protect you anymore. Fair Work looks at how the role actually operates in practice.
Think about things like:
- Does the employee have a regular, predictable roster?
- Are they expected to take every shift offered?
- Are they doing the same work as your permanent team?
If the answer’s yes, you might be sitting in a grey area, and it’s worth a second look.
What is the New Casual-to-Permanent Process?
The old rule meant you, the employer, had to offer permanent roles to casuals after 12 months. As of 26 February 2025, that’s flipped.
Now, employees have the choice. Here’s how it works:
The “Employee Choice Pathway”
A casual employee can request to move to permanent if:
- They’ve worked 6 months (or 12 months in a small business), and
- They believe they no longer meet the casual definition
If they submit a written request, you’ve got 21 days to:
- Respond in writing
- Consult with them about the decision
- Either accept (and confirm start date, hours, etc.), or
- Refuse with valid, documented reasons
Reasons for refusal must be fair and lawful. For example, it would seriously impact your operations, or the employee still clearly fits the casual criteria.
If you don’t respond, or the employee disagrees, they can take it to the Fair Work Commission.
What Happens if You Get it Wrong?
Non-compliance can be expensive. Here’s a quick snapshot of what’s at stake:
| Mistake | Potential Penalty |
|---|---|
| Not Giving the CEIS on time | Up to $93,900 per breach |
| Misclassifying casual employment | Up to $469,500 per breach |
| Ignoring a Conversion Request | Escalation to Fair Work |
Multiply that across a casual team and it’s easy to see how this could snowball quickly, especially if you don’t have systems in place.
What Should Employers Do Now?
Whether you’ve got one casual on the books or twenty, here’s your 2025 compliance to-do list.
1. Review your current casuals
- Are they working regular shifts?
- Are they still casual under the new definition?
- Have you issued the CEIS at the right times?
2. Update onboarding
- Make the CEIS part of your casual employment pack
- Add the Fair Work Information Statement too
3. Set reminders or automate the process
- Use your payroll or HR software to track CEIS dates
- Platforms like Xero and Employment Hero can help
4. Prepare for employee requests
- Create a process to manage conversion requests
- Make sure someone’s responsible for responding within 21 days
5. Keep good records
- Save timestamped proof of CEIS distribution and request responses
- Use email logs, digital forms or even intranet downloads
How Carbon Can Support Your Business
Our bookkeeping and payroll specialists work closely with business owners to help keep compliance in check and admin stress to a minimum.
We can help you:
- Review your casual workforce and classifications
- Automate CEIS distribution
- Audit your payroll setup and employee onboarding flow
- Support casual-to-permanent conversation requests
No need to figure it all out alone — we’ve got your back.
Need help navigating casual employment compliance?
Whether you’re unsure if your team is correctly classified, worried about CEIS deadlines, or want to tighten up your onboarding process, our bookkeeping and payroll specialists are ready to support you. Let’s make sure your compliance is sorted so you can focus on running your business.
