Casual Employment - Seeking Certainty in an Uncertain World (June 2021)

CELRL Labour Law Seminar

Seminar presented by Paul O'Grady QC (Victorian Bar)

Tuesday 8 June 2021


About the event

In this seminar, Paul O'Grady QC (Victorian Bar) discussed the casual employment provisions which have been a feature of awards and enterprise agreements for many years. Typically, casuals receive a loading, but do not get the benefit of other entitlements, such as paid leave, notice of termination and severance pay. The introduction of statutory minimum entitlements to annual leave and the like, brought attention to what constitutes casual employment, and the consequences that flow from treating non-casuals as casuals. The courts have been called upon to deal with these issues in a series of cases, culminating in the impending High Court appeal in the Rossato case. A series of class actions await the outcome. In the meantime, the Parliament has sought to address the uncertainty through statutory intervention. This seminar also considered whether the new statutory definition of “casual employment” and the specific remedial provision directed to preventing “double-dipping” is enough to provide certainty in the future.


View the seminar recording


View Paul O'Grady QC Powerpoint presentation


About the speaker

Paul O'Grady QC, Victorian Bar
Paul O'Grady QC, Victorian Bar

Paul O'Grady QC was admitted to practice as solicitor in 1990 and joined the Victorian Bar in 2002. He took silk in November 2015. His practice throughout has been in employment and industrial law. In addition to his work as a barrister, Paul is an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Law School at Melbourne University, having taught in the Melbourne Law Masters for many years. He is a co-author of the leading Australian text Macken’s Law of Employment, the 8th edition of which was published in June 2016, and he is an editor of the practice section of the Australian Journal of Labour Law.