Casual Employment Information Statement

Got casual workers? You need to hand out the new Casual Employment Information Statement.

On 26 March 2021, the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act) was amended to change workplace rights and obligations for casual employees. The changes were made by the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Act 2021 (Amendment Act).

These changes came into effect on Saturday 27 March 2021.

What’s changed

The Amendment Act introduces a:

• Casual Employment Information Statement
• definition of casual employment
• pathway for casual employees to move to full-time or part-time (permanent) employment.

Casual Employment Information Statement

Employers have to give every new casual employee a Casual Employment Information Statement (the CEIS) before, or as soon as possible after, they start their new job.

Small business employers need to give their existing casual employees a copy of the CEIS as soon as possible after 27 March 2021. Other employers have to give their existing casual employees a copy of the CEIS as soon as possible after 27 September 2021.

New casual employees also need to be given the Fair Work Information Statement.

Definition of a casual employee

The Fair Work Act has been amended to include a new definition of a casual employee. Under the new definition, a person is a casual employee if they accept a job offer from an employer knowing that there is no firm advance commitment to ongoing work with an agreed pattern of work.

If you have casual employees, we’d encourage you to take a look at the media release from the Fair Commission where you can find the full story and links to resources (including a download of the CEIS) to help you manage the change.

All too hard? Give Bare Bones Consulting a call. We’ll point you in the right direction with your obligations to casual employees…and to all things Human Resources for your business. You can also find some handy tips on managing casual employment in our “News” section here.