If you are looking for casual conversion, you are looking for something that no longer exists under that name. Division 4A of Part 2-2 of the Fair Work Act was rewritten with effect from 26 August 2024. The conversion sections were repealed outright and a different mechanism, the employee choice pathway, was put in their place at sections 66AAB, 66AAC and 66AAD. The qualifying periods survived, so the six month and twelve month figures you were probably told are still right. Who starts the process, what has to be in writing, how long the employer has and which section numbers you quote have all changed.
Key takeaways
- Casual conversion was repealed with effect from 26 August 2024. Sections 66AA and 66B to 66J are no longer in the Act.
- It was replaced by the employee choice pathway at sections 66AAB, 66AAC and 66AAD. The employee starts it, in writing.
- You can give the notification after 6 months of employment, or 12 months if your employer is a small business employer (s 66AAB(c)).
- The employer must consult you and respond in writing within 21 days (s 66AAC(1) and (3)).
- Refusal is open on only three grounds, listed in section 66AAC(4). Preferring the flexibility is not one of them.
- If the notification is accepted you are a permanent employee from the first full pay period starting after the response (s 66AAD(2)).
Casual conversion was repealed
The casual conversion regime was inserted into the Fair Work Act in 2021 as Subdivision C of Division 4A of Part 2-2, running from section 66AA to section 66J. The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024 repealed all of it. Section 2(1) of that Act set commencement at "the day after the end of the period of 6 months beginning on the day this Act receives the Royal Assent", and names the date: 26 August 2024.
This was not a renaming. Open the current authorised compilation and Division 4A contains a Subdivision A, a Subdivision B and a Subdivision D. There is no Subdivision C, no section 66AA and no sections 66B to 66J. Any page, template letter or HR policy still citing those numbers is citing text that has been removed from the Act.
The same Act repealed and substituted section 15A, the definition of a casual employee. Since 26 August 2024 the question turns on "the real substance, practical reality and true nature of the employment relationship" (s 15A(2)(a)), and a mutual understanding can be inferred from how the job is actually performed after the contract was signed (s 15A(3)(a)). That matters here, because the replacement pathway is built directly on top of that definition.
Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), Compilation No. 73, compilation date 7 July 2026. Endnote 4 records "rep No 2, 2024" against sections 66AA, 66B, 66C, 66D, 66E, 66F, 66G, 66H and 66J, and "rs No 2, 2024" against section 15A. Amending Act: Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024 (No. 2 of 2024), Schedule 1 Part 1.
What replaced it: the employee choice pathway
Division 4A now carries a Subdivision B headed "Employee choice about casual employment". Three sections do the work. Section 66AAB is the employee notification, section 66AAC is the employer response, and section 66AAD says what happens when the employer accepts. The Division states its own purpose before any of them.
"The object of this Division is to establish a framework for dealing with changes to casual employment status that: (a) is quick, flexible and informal; and (b) addresses the needs of employers and employees; and (c) provides for the resolution of disputes to support employee choice about employment status."
The name of the object gives away the design. This is a pathway the employee chooses to walk down, and nothing happens on it until you write to your employer. If you are working from old notes, an old letter template or an employer policy that was never updated, this is the mapping.
| What it used to be called | What it is now | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| Casual conversion | Employee choice about casual employment | Part 2-2, Division 4A, Subdivision B |
| Request or offer to convert | Employee notification | s 66AAB |
| Employer decision on the request | Employer response, due in 21 days | s 66AAC |
| Conversion taking effect | Effect of employer acceptance | s 66AAD |
| Conversion dispute | Dispute about the operation of Division 4A | ss 66M, 66MA |
Whether you can give a notification
Section 66AAB sets four conditions, and every one of them has to be met on the day the notification is given.
- You believe you are no longer a casual. Having regard to subsections 15A(1) to (4) and your current relationship with the employer, you believe you no longer meet those requirements (s 66AAB(a)).
- You have the service. At least 6 months beginning the day the employment started, or at least 12 months if the employer is a small business employer at the time the notification is given (s 66AAB(c)).
- You are not already in a dispute about the operation of Division 4A being dealt with under section 66M, including arbitration under section 66MA, or under section 739 (s 66AAB(b)).
- You are past the six month cooling off period. In the 6 months before the notification you must not have received a response under section 66AAC refusing a previous notification, or had a Division 4A dispute resolved (s 66AAB(d)).
A small business employer is one with fewer than 15 employees, counted under section 23 of the Act. That count is wider than it looks, because associated entities are treated as one employer and regular casuals are included. Our small business guide works the headcount through, since the same 15 employee line decides redundancy pay.
"A casual employee may give an employer a written notification under this section if: (a) having regard to subsections 15A(1) to (4) and the employee's current employment relationship with the employer, the employee believes that the employee no longer meets the requirements of those subsections; and (b) the employee does not have a dispute with the employer relating to the operation of Division 4A of Part 2-2 being dealt with under section 66M (including by way of arbitration under section 66MA) or under section 739; and (c) if the employer: (i) is a small business employer at the time the notification is given - the employee has been employed by the employer for a period of at least 12 months beginning the day the employment started; or (ii) is not a small business employer at the time the notification is given - the employee has been employed by the employer for a period of at least 6 months beginning the day the employment started..."
A drafting quirk, not a typo. Paragraph 66AAB(d) is printed in the authorised compilation with subparagraphs (i) and (v) and nothing in between. The limbs that look missing sit in the transitional rule at clause 102 of Schedule 1 to the amending Act, which adds extra paragraphs for employment relationships entered into before 26 August 2024. If your job started before that date, read the transitional provisions alongside section 66AAB rather than section 66AAB on its own.
Giving the notification
Section 66AAB requires the notification to be written. It does not prescribe a form, a template or a set of words, which is consistent with the section 66AAA object of a process that is "quick, flexible and informal". In practice the notification only has to make three things clear.
- That you are giving a notification under section 66AAB of the Fair Work Act 2009.
- The date your employment started, so the 6 or 12 month period can be checked.
- That you believe you no longer meet the requirements of subsections 15A(1) to (4).
You do not have to prove the third point. Section 66AAB(a) asks what you believe, having regard to section 15A and your current relationship. Whether the belief is correct is what the employer response, and if necessary the Fair Work Commission, decides. Keep a dated copy, because the 21 day clock in section 66AAC(1) runs from the day the notification is given to the employer.
Before sending it, check your own facts against the definition. Section 15A(2)(c) lists the considerations: whether the employer can genuinely elect to offer or not offer work and whether that happens in practice, whether continuing work of your kind is reasonably likely, whether permanent staff do the same work, and whether you have a regular pattern of work. No single consideration decides it (s 15A(3)(b)). Our casual versus permanent guide works through each one.
The 21 day employer response
Section 66AAC gives the employer 21 days from the day the notification is given, and sets out what the response must contain. The employer also has to consult you before responding, not after.
"(1) An employer must give an employee a written response to a notification given under section 66AAB within 21 days after the notification is given to the employer."
"(2) The response must be in writing and include the following: (a) a statement that the employer: (i) accepts the notification; or (ii) does not accept the notification on one or more grounds referred to in subsection (4); and (b) if the employer accepts the notification - the following information: (i) whether the employee is changing to full-time employment or part-time employment; (ii) the employee's hours of work after the change takes effect; (iii) the day the employee's change to full-time employment or part-time employment takes effect; (c) if the employer does not accept the notification - reasons for the employer's decision."
"(3) Before giving a response under subsection (1), the employer must consult with the employee about the notification and must, if the employer is accepting the notification, discuss the matters the employer intends to specify for the purposes of subparagraphs (2)(b)(i) to (iii)."
Three things in that are easy to miss. A refusal has to give reasons, not just an outcome. An acceptance has to name the hours you will work and the day the change takes effect, so "yes, we will sort it out" is not a complete response. And the duty to consult is unconditional. It applies whether the employer intends to accept or to refuse.
The three grounds for refusal
An employer cannot simply prefer to keep you casual. Section 66AAC(4) closes the list to three grounds and nothing else counts.
"For the purposes of subparagraph (2)(a)(ii), the employer may not accept the notification on any of the following grounds: (a) having regard to subsections 15A(1) to (4) and the employee's current employment relationship with the employer, the employee still meets the requirements of those subsections; (b) there are fair and reasonable operational grounds for not accepting the notification; (c) accepting the notification would result in the employer not complying with a recruitment or selection process required by or under a law of the Commonwealth or a State or a Territory."
Ground (a) is the substantive disagreement: the employer says you are still a casual within section 15A. Ground (c) is narrow and mostly catches statutory merit selection rules in the public sector. Ground (b) is where most refusals are written, and subsection (5) says what it can mean:
- substantial changes would be required to the way work in the employer's enterprise is organised (s 66AAC(5)(a));
- there would be significant impacts on the operation of the employer's enterprise (s 66AAC(5)(b));
- substantial changes to your terms and conditions would be reasonably necessary to stop the employer contravening a fair work instrument that would apply to you as a permanent employee (s 66AAC(5)(c)).
The note to that subsection adds that, for paragraphs (5)(a) and (c), substantial changes include changes that significantly affect the way an employee would need to work. Every limb is about the enterprise and the work. None of them is about cost, or about the employer preferring the flexibility casual engagement gives it.
What changes if the notification is accepted
"(1) If an employer responds under section 66AAC that the employer accepts an employee's notification given under section 66AAB, the employee is taken to be a full-time employee or part-time employee (as the case may be) beginning on the day specified in the response."
"(2) The day specified in the response for the purposes of subsection (1) must be the first day of the employee's first full pay period that starts after the day the employer response is given, unless the employer and employee agree to another day."
Section 15A(5) closes the loop. A person who starts as a casual stays a casual until their status is changed under Division 4A, by order of the Commission under section 66MA or 739, under the terms of a fair work instrument, or by accepting a different offer of employment. Acceptance under section 66AAD is the event that ends casual status.
From that pay period the trade reverses. The casual loading stops, because it is paid instead of the entitlements section 545A(4) lists: paid annual leave, paid personal and carer's leave, paid compassionate leave, payment for absence on a public holiday, payment in lieu of notice of termination, and redundancy pay. In exchange you start receiving them. Annual leave switches on because section 86 stops excluding you, paid personal and carer's leave because of section 95, and a public holiday you do not work starts being paid under section 116, headed "Payment for absence on public holiday".
One caution on that last one. Section 116 pays your base rate for your ordinary hours on the day, and its note says a part-time employee whose hours do not include that weekday is not entitled to payment. Going part-time fixes the casual problem, not the rostering one. See public holiday pay for casuals for how that note works.
Whether the change is a raise or a cut in the short term depends entirely on the hours you were getting. Put both versions of your own rate side by side in the casual loading calculator, then price the leave you would start building with the annual leave calculator.
If the employer refuses, or does nothing
Section 66M is the dispute route. It requires the parties to try to resolve the dispute at the workplace level first. If that fails, either party can refer it to the Fair Work Commission, which must first deal with it by means other than arbitration unless there are exceptional circumstances. Section 66MA is the arbitration power: the Commission can order that the employee continue to be treated as a casual, or that the employee be treated as full-time or part-time from the first day of the first full pay period after the order.
Section 66L is the anti-avoidance rule, and it is worth reading in full because it is short and blunt.
"An employer must not do any of the following in order to avoid any right or obligation under this Division: (a) reduce or vary an employee's hours of work; (b) change the employee's pattern of work; (c) terminate an employee's employment."
Losing shifts shortly after sending a notification is the exact pattern that provision is written for. Free advice is available from the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94, 8am to 5:30pm Monday to Friday.
What your award says now
Modern awards used to carry their own casual conversion clauses. They now defer to the Act, which is a useful signal in its own right that award level conversion has gone as a separate route.
"A pathway for employees to change from casual employment to full-time or part-time employment is provided for in the NES. See sections 66A to 66MA of the Act."
What your award still decides is the money on either side of the change: the casual loading, the penalty rates, and the annual leave loading you would begin receiving as a permanent employee. The loading is 25% in every award this site covers, and it is set by each award's own casual clause rather than by the Fair Work Act. The Act at section 294 only requires the Commission to set a casual loading for award and agreement free employees in each annual wage review. Check yours on the Fast Food, General Retail or Hospitality award pages, or find it in the full award list.
Common questions
Does casual conversion still exist in Australia?
No. It was repealed with effect from 26 August 2024 by the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024. The current process is the employee choice pathway at sections 66AAB, 66AAC and 66AAD of the Fair Work Act. People still say "casual conversion" and employers still know what you mean, but the sections you would cite in a letter are different ones.
How long do I have to work before I can ask to go permanent?
Six months beginning the day your employment started, or twelve months if your employer is a small business employer with fewer than 15 employees. That is section 66AAB(c). The period runs from the start of employment, not from when your hours became regular.
Does my employer have to offer me permanent work?
Not under the current Division 4A. The pathway is triggered by your written notification under section 66AAB. An employer and employee can still agree to a change without using the pathway at all, which the note to section 66AAB confirms by pointing at paragraphs 15A(5)(c) and (d).
Can my employer just refuse?
Only on one of the three grounds in section 66AAC(4): that you still meet the casual definition in section 15A, that there are fair and reasonable operational grounds, or that accepting would breach a recruitment or selection process required by law. The refusal must be in writing and must give reasons.
Will I lose the 25% casual loading?
Yes. The loading is paid instead of the entitlements listed in section 545A(4), so once you are permanent you receive those entitlements rather than the loading. Compare both on your own hourly rate before you decide, especially if your hours swing from week to week.
I have been casual since before 26 August 2024. Does the pathway still apply?
Yes, but read it with the transitional rules. Clause 102 of Schedule 1 to the amending Act adds further limbs to paragraph 66AAB(d) for employment relationships entered into before that date, which is why the paragraph reads oddly in the compiled Act. If your employment started before 26 August 2024, confirm your position with the Fair Work Ombudsman rather than relying on section 66AAB alone.
Does a regular roster make me permanent automatically?
No. Section 15A(2)(c)(iv) makes a regular pattern of work one consideration among several, and the note to section 15A(2) says a regular pattern does not of itself indicate a firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work. Status changes only through one of the events in section 15A(5), and the employee choice pathway is the one you control.
Author & reviewer
Sarah has spent over a decade advising Australian SMBs on Fair Work, NES compliance, and payroll. Based in Sydney, she has worked across hospitality, retail and professional services.