Dominic is the CEO of Lawpath, dedicating his days to making legal, accounting and compliance easier, faster and more accessible to businesses. Dominic is a recognised thought-leader in Australian legal disruption, and was recognised as a winner of the Australian Legal Innovation Index and recently a winner of the LexisNexis 40 Under 40 (APAC).
The Lawpath casual conversion checker (below) is a free tool for Australian employers. It tells you when a casual employee can give you a notice to become permanent, whether a notice you’ve received meets the timing rules, and the date your written response is due. Enter your business size, the employee’s start date and the date of any notice, and you get the key dates and the steps you need to take.
Casual conversion flipped in 2024. You used to make the offer. Now your casual starts the process, in writing, and the clock starts the day they hand it over. You get 21 days to consult and reply, and you can only say no for a handful of reasons the law spells out. “We like the flexibility” isn’t one of them.
What is the casual conversion checker, and who is it for?
It’s for the person who has to answer the notice. That might be a café owner with a regular weekend casual, a clinic manager whose casual receptionist now works the same three days every week, or a growing team that just crossed 15 staff and isn’t sure which threshold applies.
The tool answers three questions. Can this employee give me a notice yet? If they already have, is it valid on the timing rules? And when is my written reply due? It then lists what your reply has to contain, the only grounds you can rely on to refuse, and what happens if you can’t agree.
How to use the casual conversion checker
Here’s what you enter in the checker above, in order.
- Choose your business size: fewer than 15 employees, or 15 or more. Count everyone in your business and any associated entities. Casuals only count if they work on a regular and systematic basis.
- Enter the date the casual started with you.
- Say whether they’ve given you a written notice, and if so, the date you received it.
- Tell it if there’s a live dispute about their status, or if you refused a notice (or settled a dispute) with them in the last 6 months.
- Optionally, answer the four “does this employee still look casual?” questions. These mirror the factors in section 15A of the Fair Work Act.
What the results show
You get a headline answer first: your casual can notify you now, they can notify you from a set date, a notice can’t be given yet, or you must respond in writing by a deadline (with a countdown). Under that sit the key dates, a short checklist for your reply, the refusal grounds, the dispute steps and the date your next Casual Employment Information Statement is due. Official Fair Work and legislation sources sit at the bottom.
When can a casual ask to go permanent?
Under the employee choice pathway, a casual can give you a written notice once they have worked for you for at least 6 months. If you’re a small business employer (fewer than 15 employees when the notice is given), the wait is 12 months. They also have to believe they no longer fit the legal definition of a casual employee.
Three things stop a notice. There’s a dispute about their status already being dealt with. You refused a previous notice from them in the last 6 months. Or a dispute about it was resolved in the last 6 months. In those cases, the checker shows you the first date a fresh notice could be given.
One trap for long-serving casuals: casual service before 26 August 2024 doesn’t count towards the 6 or 12 months. Someone who has worked for you since 2019 was first able to notify a larger employer on 26 February 2025, and a small business on 26 August 2025. Both dates have passed, so that only matters if you’re checking an old notice.
Your 21-day response, step by step
Section 66AAC of the Fair Work Act 2009 gives you 21 days after the notice is given to reply in writing. Before you reply, you must consult the employee. That applies whether you plan to say yes or no.
If you accept, your written reply must state whether they’re becoming full-time or part-time, what their hours will be, and the day the change starts. That day must be the first day of their first full pay period starting after your reply, unless you both agree on a different day. “Yes, let’s sort it out later” isn’t a complete response.
If you refuse, your reply must give reasons, and those reasons have to fit one of three grounds:
- They’re still casual. Looking at how the job runs now, there’s still no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work.
- Fair and reasonable operational grounds. Examples in the Act are substantial changes to how work is organised, significant impacts on how the business operates, or substantial changes to their terms needed to comply with the award or agreement that would apply if they were permanent.
- A legal recruitment process. Accepting would mean breaching a recruitment or selection process required by law. This mostly affects the public sector.
Three worked examples
The café with 9 staff. A casual barista started on 3 March 2025. Because the café is a small business employer, the barista can notify from 3 March 2026. The notice lands on Monday 4 May 2026. The reply is due by Monday 25 May 2026, and the owner needs to have consulted the barista before then.
The 40-person logistics business. A casual picker has been there since 2022. Their service only counts from 26 August 2024, so they could first notify on 26 February 2025. The business refused a notice on operational grounds on 15 January 2026. The checker says a fresh notice can be given from 16 July 2026. A notice dated 15 July 2026 doesn’t meet the timing rules.
The weekend deadline. A notice handed over on Saturday 7 November 2026 makes the 21st day Saturday 28 November 2026. The checker flags it. Don’t count on a weekend extension: send your reply by Friday 27 November.
Is your casual still casual?
Since 26 August 2024, section 15A asks whether the relationship has a firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work, judged on the real substance and practical reality of the job, not just the contract. The Fair Work Ombudsman lists the factors you must consider: whether you can really choose not to offer shifts and they can really refuse them, whether continuing work of that kind is likely, whether permanent staff do the same work, and whether there’s a regular pattern of work.
No single factor settles it. A regular roster on its own doesn’t make someone permanent. But a casual who works the same shifts every week, can’t realistically say no, and sits beside part-timers doing the same job is a hard case to refuse on the “still casual” ground. The checker’s optional questions show which way the indicators lean. They don’t make the call for you.
What you can’t do
You can’t cut or change the employee’s hours, change their pattern of work, or end their employment to avoid these obligations. Giving a notice is a workplace right, so the general protections against adverse action apply. You also don’t have to increase their hours just because they gave a notice. If you’re planning roster changes around the same time, read our guide on changing a casual employee’s roster first.
If you can’t agree
Start at the workplace. Talk it through, and follow any dispute term in the award or enterprise agreement. If that fails, either side can take it to the Fair Work Commission using Form F10A. The Commission first tries mediation, conciliation or a recommendation. If that doesn’t resolve it, a Commission Member can arbitrate and order that the employee stays casual or becomes full-time or part-time.
What this checker leaves out
It doesn’t apply your award or enterprise agreement, which may add steps on top of the National Employment Standards. It doesn’t decide whether a person is still casual. And it doesn’t cover the old employer offer and employee request pathways, because those transitional rules ended on 26 February 2025 for most employers and 26 August 2025 for small business. The full background on the 2024 changes is in our explainer on changes to casual employment.
For pay questions, use the tools alongside it. Our Minimum Wage Checker shows the pay floor for award and agreement free staff. The Cost of Employment Calculator shows what a permanent role adds once leave and super are in. For long-serving casuals, the long service leave calculator covers what they may have built up.
Frequently asked questions
Is the casual conversion checker free?
Yes. It’s free to use and there’s no login or sign-up.
Do employers still have to offer casual conversion?
No. The employer offer obligation ended for casuals employed before 26 August 2024 on 26 February 2025, and it never applied to small business. The employee now starts the process by giving you a written notice under the employee choice pathway.
How long do I have to respond to a casual conversion notice?
You must give a written response within 21 days after the notice is given to you, and you must consult the employee before you respond. If you accept, the change usually starts on the first day of their next full pay period after your response.
Can a small business refuse casual conversion?
Yes, but only on the same grounds as any employer: the employee still meets the casual definition, there are fair and reasonable operational grounds, or accepting would breach a recruitment process required by law. You must put your reasons in writing. The small business difference is the 12-month wait before a notice can be given.
Does casual service before 26 August 2024 count?
Not for the 6 or 12 month eligibility test. Service is counted from 26 August 2024, and conduct before that date is also disregarded when deciding whether someone is still casual. It may still count for other entitlements, such as long service leave.
When do I give the Casual Employment Information Statement?
Every casual gets it at the start. Small businesses give it again after 12 months. Other employers give it after 6 months, after 12 months, and after every further 12 months of employment. The checker shows your next due date.
Get the dates right before you reply
Most casual conversion problems start with a missed date or a one-line “no”. Work out whether the notice is valid, book the consultation, and put a complete written reply in the employee’s hands inside 21 days.
Check your dates in under a minute with the free casual conversion checker above.
Get your Full Time Employment Agreement legal document for free.
This article is general information only and isn’t legal advice. Your award, enterprise agreement or contract may add requirements, so check the Fair Work Ombudsman or get advice for your situation before you respond to a notice.
