Laws about casual employment changed from 26 August 2024. Transitional arrangements were in place for some casuals until 26 August 2025. For more information about the changes, go to Casual employment changes.

This article outlines how casual conversion laws operated prior to 26 August 2025 for casuals employed by their employer immediately before 26 August 2024.

Different pathways to permanent employment

The casual conversion pathways that were available before 26 August 2024 continued to be available for employers and their casuals employed immediately before 26 August 2024 for a transitional period.

These casual employees can also move to permanent employment using the employee choice pathway once eligible.

Pathways from 26 August 2024 

Employer offer for casual conversion – transitional period:

• applied until 26 February 2025  
• didn’t apply to casuals employed by a small business. 

Right to request casual conversion - transitional period: 

• applied until 26 February 2025 for casuals not employed by a small business, or 
• applied until 26 August 2025 for casuals employed by a small business. 

Employee choice about casual employment 

If eligible, casuals can issue a notice under this pathway: 

• from 26 February 2025, if not employed by a small business, or 
• from 26 August 2025, if employed by a small business. 

See Becoming a permanent employee for more information on the employee choice pathway.  

Example: Right to request casual conversion for a casual employed before 26 August 2024

Ali was employed as a casual barista at a local café which is a small business. He started with his employer in October 2022.  

In October 2024, Ali had been employed for 2 years and had worked a regular pattern of hours for the last 8 months. Ali’s employer has committed to providing Ali with ongoing work. 

Ali decided he wanted to change to part-time employment. 

Ali looked at the FWO’S website and learned that even though he had been employed for 2 years, he wasn’t eligible to access the employee choice pathway yet. This is because he was employed by a small business and his employment before 26 August 2024 didn’t count towards eligibility for the employee choice pathway. 

However, Ali learned that he could request to change to part-time employment through the casual conversion pathway that was still available for eligible casuals employed before 26 August 2024. He had until 26 August 2025 to make a request under this pathway. 

Ali believed he met all the requirements so made a written request to his employer to change to part-time employment.

Employer offer for casual conversion - transitional period

Until 26 February 2025, employers (except small business employers) needed to make a written offer to convert a casual to permanent employment within 21 days after a casual's 12-month anniversary, if the casual:

• was employed as a casual before 26 August 2024
• had been employed by the employer for 12 months
• had worked a regular pattern of hours on an ongoing basis for at least the previous 6 months
• could have continued working these hours as a full-time or part-time employee without significant changes.

The offer of casual conversion must have converted the employee to:

• full-time, if the employee's hours worked for at least the last 6 months have been the same as full-time hours, or
• part-time (consistent with the employee's regular pattern of hours worked for at least the previous 6 months), if the employee's hours worked for the previous 6 months had been less than full-time hours.

Responding to an offer

To accept an offer to convert, employees needed to respond to their employer in writing within 21 days after getting the offer. If they didn’t respond, their employer could assume that they’d declined the offer. 

If an employee accepted an employer’s offer to convert, the employer needed to discuss with the employee their: 

• type of employment (full-time or part-time)
• hours of work
• start date, being the first day of the first full pay period after the employer has written to the employee, unless the employer and employee agree to another day. 

The employer then had to confirm these details in writing to the employee within 21 days after the employee accepted the offer. 

Employers not making an offer of casual conversion

If an employer (except a small business employer) decided not to offer casual conversion, the employer needed to write to the employee within 21 days after the employee’s 12-month anniversary, telling them:

• that they weren’t making an offer of casual conversion 
• the reasons for not making the offer. 

The only reasons for not making an offer were:

• the employee hadn’t worked a regular pattern of hours: 
  • on an ongoing basis for at least the previous 6 months 
  • which they could have continued working as a full-time or part-time employee without significant changes 
• the business had reasonable grounds for not making an offer. 

Reasonable grounds for not making an offer or refusing a request

If an employer decided to not make an offer, or refused to accept a request, for a casual to convert to permanent on ‘reasonable grounds’, the reasonable grounds they relied on had to be based on facts that were known or reasonably foreseeable. 

Reasonable grounds for deciding not to make an offer could include that, in the following 12 months:

• the employee’s position wouldn’t exist
• the employee’s hours of work would significantly reduce
• the employee’s days or times of work would significantly change, and that couldn’t be accommodated within the employee’s available days or times for work.

Reasonable grounds can also include: 

• making the offer wouldn't have complied with a recruitment or selection process required by or under a Commonwealth, State or Territory law. 
• the employer would have had to make a significant adjustment to the employee’s work hours for them to be employed full-time or part-time.

Right to request casual conversion - transitional period

Casual employees employed before 26 August 2024 could make a request to convert to permanent employment during the transitional period. 

To be eligible, a casual employee: 

• needed to have been employed by the employer for at least 12 months 
• needed to have worked a regular pattern of hours on an ongoing basis for at least the last 6 months 
• could’ve continued working these hours as a full-time or part-time employee without significant changes. 

The request must have been made in writing and made within the transitional period: 

• if not employed by a small business, from 21 days after their 12-month anniversary and made before 26 February 2025, or 
• if employed by a small business, anytime on or after their 12-month anniversary and made before 26 August 2025. 

An employee wasn’t eligible to make a request if, in the previous 6 months:

• they’d refused an offer from their employer to convert to permanent employment 
• their employer had told them in writing that they won’t be making an offer of casual conversion because there was a reasonable ground not to make the offer
• their employer had refused a previous request for casual conversion.

Sometimes employees could still make a request even if their employer had told them in the last 6 months that they won’t be making an offer of casual conversion. Employees could only do this if they didn’t get an offer because they hadn’t worked a regular pattern of work in the 6 months before their earlier request, but they now have.

Example: Making a request within 6 months of being told the employer wouldn’t make an offer 

Brett worked casually as a produce assistant at a local greengrocer. He was one of 30 employees. After working there for 12 months, his employer wrote to him telling him that they won’t be making an offer to convert his employment to permanent. The employer explained that Brett wasn’t eligible because he’d only worked a regular pattern of work for the last 4 months. 

Brett then continued to work a regular pattern of work for the next 2 months, meaning he had worked a regular pattern of work for 6 months. He then checked he was eligible and made a written request to his employer to convert his employment. 

Brett’s employer had to consider his request even though they wrote to him 2 months earlier. This is because Brett had now worked a regular pattern of work in his last 6 months of employment and had worked there for at least 12 months. 

Responding to a request 

The employer must have responded in writing to the employee within 21 days, either: 

• accepting the request for conversion, or 
• refusing the request for conversion and giving reasons why. 

Refusing a request

Employers couldn’t refuse a request unless they had discussed the request with the employee and had reasonable grounds to refuse the request. 

Accepting the request 

If an employer accepted an employee’s request to convert to permanent employment, the employer needed to discuss with the employee their: 

• type of employment (full-time or part-time) 
• hours of work 
• start date, being the first day of the first full pay period after the employer has written to the employee, unless the employer and employee agreed to another day. 

The employer needed to then confirm this information in writing to their employee within 21 days after the employee had requested to convert. This could be in the same notice as when the employer told the casual employee that they were accepting their request.