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Myths and Facts for Christmas Casuals – Webinar with the Fair Work Ombudsman
Organisation: Fair Work Ombudsman
Location: Online
Date: December 2, 2025
Should you be paid for coming in early? Do breakages come out of your pay? Is an online induction work time? We sort fact from fiction in this short webinar for people picking up casual work this holiday season.
A recording of this webinar will be made available to everyone who registers for the session.
Pay & Conditions
What is casual loading?
Casual loading is extra money paid to casual employees to compensate for the fact that they don't receive benefits like paid annual leave, sick leave, or public holiday pay. It's typically an additional 25% added on top of the base hourly rate, though this can vary depending on the industry award or agreement.
Here's how it works in practice: if the base rate for a job is $20 per hour, a permanent employee would earn exactly that – $20 per hour – but they'd also accrue paid leave and have guaranteed hours. A casual employee doing the same work would earn $25 per hour (the $20 base rate plus 25% casual loading), but they wouldn't get paid leave and their employer could change their hours or let them go without notice.
Why does casual loading exist?
The loading exists because casual employment comes with significant uncertainty. As a casual employee, you typically don't have guaranteed hours from week to week, you can be let go without notice, and you miss out on several benefits that permanent employees receive (such as paid leave). The extra pay is meant to offset these disadvantages and compensate you for the lack of job security and other entitlements.
Think of it this way: a permanent employee who gets sick still gets paid for those sick days. If you're casual and can't work because you're ill, you simply don't earn anything that day. The casual loading is supposed to help make up for this by paying you more on the days you do work, so you can save some of that extra money for times when you can't work.
What's included in the 25%?
The standard 25% casual loading is designed to compensate for four main entitlements that casual employees miss out on: annual leave, personal/carer's leave, notice of termination, and redundancy pay. When the Fair Work Commission set this percentage, they calculated what these entitlements would be worth to a permanent employee and determined that 25% was a reasonable offset.
However, casual employees still receive superannuation (the same as permanent employees) and are entitled to penalty rates if they work nights, weekends, or public holidays. The casual loading and penalty rates are separate things – you can receive both, which is why casual hospitality workers often earn quite good hourly rates when working weekend or evening shifts.
Is it always 25%?
While 25% is the most common rate, some industry awards specify different percentages. Always check the relevant award or agreement for your industry. You can find this information on the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool by searching for your industry or job type.
Some enterprise agreements might also specify different casual loading rates. If your workplace has an enterprise agreement in place, this will override the award, so make sure you understand which document applies to your employment.
Converting from casual to permanent
If you've been working as a casual employee regularly for 12 months, you might have the right to request conversion to permanent employment. This means giving up the casual loading in exchange for guaranteed hours and paid leave entitlements. Whether this is a good idea depends on your circumstances.
For students who need flexibility or people who work multiple jobs, staying casual might make sense despite the lack of job security. If you need the stability of guaranteed income and would value having paid sick leave and annual leave, conversion to permanent employment might be better – even though your hourly rate will drop when you lose the casual loading.
Know your rights
If you're employed as a casual worker, make sure you're actually receiving the casual loading you're entitled to. Check your payslips to ensure the rate you're being paid is at least 25% higher than the base rate for your position (or whatever percentage applies under your award).
If you're working regular, predictable hours week after week, you might actually be a permanent employee who's been misclassified as casual. This matters because if you're really a permanent employee, you should be receiving paid leave entitlements instead of casual loading. If you suspect you've been misclassified, you can seek advice from the Fair Work Ombudsman.
Learn more
You can find out more about casual employment on the Fair Work Ombudsman's website, or you might like to explore some of the other resources on our website here.
2026 Very Short Film Festival School Competition
Organisation: Very Short Film Festival
Location: Australia
Value: See details
Close Date: March 15, 2026
Ms Melissa Dillon & Ms Robyn Cardamone
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