By 27th September 2021, all employers with 15 or more employees, will need to assess whether existing casual employees (employed before 27th March 2021), are eligible to be offered to convert to permanent employment.
Employers will be required to either make a written offer to convert their casual employees to permanent employment or write to employees to explain why they won’t be made an offer.
Employees would need to respond in writing within 21 days of getting the offer, or it would be assumed that they have declined the offer.
The only reasons for not making an offer are:
- the employee hasn’t worked a regular pattern of hours:
- on an ongoing basis for at least the last 6 months
- which they could continue working as a full-time or part-time employee without significant changes
- the business has reasonable grounds for not making an offer.
Reasonable grounds for deciding not to make an offer can include that, in the next 12 months:
- the employee’s position won’t exist
- the employee’s hours of work will significantly reduce
- the employee’s days or times of work will significantly change, and that can’t be accommodated within the employee’s available days or times for work.
Reasonable grounds can also include:
- making the offer would not comply with a recruitment or selection process required by or under a Commonwealth, State or Territory law
- the employer would have to make a significant adjustment to the employee’s work hours for them to be employed full-time or part-time.
Please note that there are also laws in place that prevent an employer from reducing an employees hours in order to not be required to offer permanent employment conversion.
For more information you can view the Fair Work Website page – Becoming a permanent employee