The Fair Work Commission has implemented the Morrison Government’s changes to casual employment outlined in the IR Omnibus Bill leaving many casual workers worse off.

One of the IR Omnibus Bill’s key changes was a new definition of casual employment which placed higher emphasis on contracts signed at the commencement of employment. This would give employers much greater power to simply deem workers ‘casual’ even if they have regular hours and rosters or other indicators that would, by any reasonable definition, constitute a permanent worker.

As part of the review process required by the Morrison Government’s changes to casual employment, most Modern Awards now contain a reference to this definition of casual employment.

In 13 awards – across a number of industries including building, construction and manufacturing – a casual worker now has to wait a year instead of six months, before having the right to request to move to permanent work.

Quotes attributable to ACTU Secretary Sally McManus,

“The Morrison Government is eroding workers’ rights, and making work more insecure, award by award. This decision, which flows directly from the IR Omnibus Bill, is a huge blow for the rights of casual workers.

“Australians don’t need their jobs to be more insecure right now, we should be building more secure employment as we recover from this crisis.

 “Under these new rules it doesn’t matter if a worker under those awards does regular hours, has rosters that can stretch for up to a year, and has been with the company for months and months, they can still be simply deemed a casual by their boss.