{"id":4499,"date":"2021-10-06T16:41:40","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T06:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paceadelaidelegal.com.au\/?p=4499"},"modified":"2021-10-06T16:46:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T06:16:38","slug":"how-to-determine-if-an-employee-is-casual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paceadelaidelegal.com.au\/how-to-determine-if-an-employee-is-casual\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Determine If An Employee Is Casual"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong><u>WorkPac Pty Ltd v Rossato [2021] HCA 23<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On 4 August 2021 the High Court handed down their landmark decision in <em>WorkPac Pty Ltd v Rossato<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\"><strong>[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, stating that the main consideration in determining how to characterise whether an employee is casual or not, should be by considering the <em>plain and ordinary meaning<\/em> of the employment contract. The High Court overruled the decision made by the Full Court of the Federal Court, stating that it is not the role of the courts to \u2018\u2019strain legal concepts and language\u2019\u2019 to moderate a perceived unfairness.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><u>Facts<\/u><\/h4>\n<p>WorkPac is a labour-hire company whose business includes providing employee services to clients in the coal mining industry. Mr Rossato was an employee of WorkPac from 28 July 2014 up until his retirement on 9 April 2018, and was treated as a casual employee for the duration of his employment.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Rossato\u2019s matter arose when he wrote to WorkPac claiming he was owed money upon his retirement for annual leave, paid public holidays and personal and compassionate leave, under WorkPac\u2019s Enterprise Agreement. Mr Rossato\u2019s claim was made on the basis of the Full Court of the Federal Court\u2019s 2018 decision of <em>WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene <\/em>(<em>Skene<\/em>).<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> In this matter, the Court held that Mr Skene, who was employed in circumstances similar to Mr Rossato, was <strong>not<\/strong> a casual employee for the purposes of s 86 of the <em>Fair Work Act 2009<\/em> (Cth) and the Enterprise Agreement which governed his employment, and was therefore entitled to the associated benefits.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><u>Trial Judgment (Full Court of the Federal Court)<\/u><\/h4>\n<p>In Mr Rossato\u2019s matter, the Full Court of the Federal Court rejected WorkPac\u2019s argument that Mr Rossato\u2019s entitlements should be reduced, as he was paid more as a casual than he would have been as a non-casual employee, upholding the precedent set in <em>Skene<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><u>High Court Judgment<\/u><\/h4>\n<p>The High Court of Australia went on to unanimously overturn the Full Court of the Federal Court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<p>The High Court\u2019s judgment turned on whether <em>a \u2018firm advance commitment\u2019 existed, unqualified by uncertainty, discontinuity, intermittency and other \u2018indicia of irregularity.\u2019<\/em> The existence of such a commitment was judged necessary for work to be other than casual under the <em>Fair Work Act 2009 <\/em>(Cth) as a matter of statutory interpretation, and the High Court\u2019s test of casual employment was upheld in this matter.<\/p>\n<p>The message emerging from the judgment is a simple one. A \u2019firm advance commitment\u2019 must be enforceable and binding. An \u2018amorphous, innominate hope or expectation\u2019 of future employment is not sufficient to deprive casual work of that character. It is not the role of the courts to \u2019strain legal concepts and language\u2019 to moderate a perceived unfairness.<\/p>\n<p>The High Court rejected the original decision that work rosters formed part of the contractual suite of documents in any way, noting that the Full Court placed inordinate emphasis on Mr Rossato\u2019s working hours being fixed by rosters. Taking the relevant provisions of the agreement by their plain and ordinary meaning, demonstrated that Mr Rossato was a casual employee. There was never any guarantee that upon completion of one assignment Mr Rossato would be engaged upon another. Indeed, the existence of such a guarantee would have contradicted the express terms governing their relationship.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, the Court concluded that the Full Court had erred in finding that there existed a \u2018firm advance commitment.\u2019 To the extent that Mr Rossato\u2019s work had the qualities of regular and systematic organisation, such qualities were entirely consistent with him being characterised as a casual worker. Whilst over the course of his relationship with WorkPac Mr Rossato may be said to have developed a reasonable expectation of continuing employment, this never constituted a \u2018firm advance commitment\u2019 beyond a particular assignment and as such, he was deemed a casual worker.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> [2021] HCA 23.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> (2018) 264 FCR 536.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WorkPac Pty Ltd v Rossato [2021] HCA 23 &nbsp; On 4 August 2021 the High Court handed down their landmark decision in WorkPac Pty Ltd v Rossato[1], stating that the main consideration in determining how to characterise whether an employee is casual or not, should be by considering the plain and ordinary meaning of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - 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