New Laws Around Casual Employment and a Tough Regime on Wage Theft Introduced by Victoria

New Laws Around Casual Employment and a Tough Regime on Wage Theft Introduced in Victoria

BY CORINA VUCIC, DIRECTOR OF FC BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

There have been two significant changes to legislation around employment in the last four months and it’s important, as employers, that you are across them.

Casual Employment Re-defined

Following a legal case that threw the rules around casual employment into question, the Federal Government has moved to provide greater clarity around casual employment and introduced reform in this area, effective 27th March 2021. ¡ There is now a statutory definition of a

“casual employee”. ¡ There’s an expansion of existing casual conversion rights. This includes an obligation for employers to offer permanent employment1 in certain circumstances. ¡ All casual employees now need to be given a

Casual Employment Information Statement2 before, or as soon as practicable after, the employee starts. ¡ Casual loading of the base hourly rate (currently 25%) continues to apply.

Definition of a Casual Employee

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. Once employed as a casual, an employee will continue to be a casual employee until: ¡ They become a permanent employee through: — casual conversion, or — being offered and accepting full-time or part-time employment, or ¡ They stop being employed by the employer. More information on the new rules around Casual Employment can be found on the Fair Work website at

Wage Theft – the Victorian Rules

While employment law is normally the domain of the Federal Government, the Victorian Government is sufficiently concerned about “wage theft” to implement their own legislation in this area. On 1st July 2021, it became a crime for an employer in Victoria to: ¡ Deliberately underpay employees. ¡ Dishonestly withhold wages, superannuation or other employee entitlements. ¡ Falsify employee entitlement records to gain a financial advantage. ¡ Avoid keeping employee entitlement records to gain a financial advantage. These crimes are punishable by a fine of up to $218,088 or up to 10 years’ jail for individuals, and a fine of up to $1,090,440 for companies. If you are exercising due diligence in paying wages and entitlements, but make an honest mistake, that will not be considered as wage theft. Victoria’s Wage Inspectorate will be tasked with investigating complaints. You can find out more about this new legislation at

Reminder: Increase in the Base Rate of Pay

From the 1st of July 2021, an increase in the base rate of pay of 2.5% was introduced. New rates of pay for the various Awards have been updated and are available on the Fair Work website. It’s important to regularly review the terms and conditions of your employees, to make sure that they are being adequately paid for the hours they work. The consequences of getting it wrong can be distracting and costly.

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