Australia’s Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2021 was passed in Parliament last week.

The bill’s proposed reforms primarily relate to casual employment, flexibility under modern awards for industries impacted by Covid-19, the making and approval of enterprise bargaining agreements, greenfield agreements for major projects and compliance and enforcement (including responding to wage theft).

Amendments in the bill focus on casual employment and addresses issues around ‘double dipping’ with respect to casual employment.

The bill has been politically divisive. The Australian Labor Party and the Greens oppose the bill. Centre Alliance supports some aspects of the bill, but not others. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation does not support the casual employment reforms that the bill proposes.

Recent court cases in particular cases involving labour hire firm Workpac have brought the common law approach to casual employment to the fore.

The bill introduces a definition of a casual employee into the Fair Work Act for the first time. Proposed section 15A of the Act (at item 2 of Schedule 1 to the Bill) stipulates that a person is a casual employee of an employer where:

• there is an offer of employment made on the basis that the employer makes no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work
• the person accepts the offer on that basis and
• the person is an employee as a result of that acceptance.

Furthermore, casual employees will be able to ask for a permanent job after 12 months, but employers would have the right to say no.

According to Bloomberg, the conservative government said the bill wasn’t ideologically based and was aimed to streamline the bargaining system between workers and employers to help drive up wages and productivity.

The amendments will take effect after receiving Royal Assent, which will be within 10 working days of the bill passing through Parliament from 22 March 2021.

Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said, “The government has ensured that casual work remains insecure and uncertain, with no viable path to ongoing work and no ability for workers to enforce their rights.”

“The decision to remove the elements of this bill which would have increased penalties for employers committing wage theft and made it easier for workers to claim stolen wages back is a spiteful act by a government which refuses to act in the interests of working people,” McManus said. “The passage of this bill makes the campaign against insecure work and wage theft even more vital. Theft of wages and exploitation of casual workers is now on the hands of this government and its allies on the crossbench.”

According to law firm K and L Gates, existing casual employment contracts and pro forma casual contracts should be reviewed against the new definition, to ensure that their employees are correctly characterised.

“Further, employers should review which of their casual workers are eligible for casual conversion, in preparation for making offers and responding to requests regarding the new provisions,’
 the law firm states. “The bill provides a transition period of six months for employers of existing casual staff at the time of commencement of the Bill, meaning employers should review the appropriateness of the allocation of employees as casuals and where required make offers of part or full time employment.”

Acting Industrial Relations Minister Michaelia Cash told 9news.com.au that the passage of the legislation is a "significant win" for workers wanting to secure a permanent role.

"These measures will protect jobs into the future, a critical move as Australia moves out of the economic impacts caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Cash said.