Home topics workplace Casual employment suffers in wake of COVID-19 Featured Workplace Featured What are casual staff entitled to amid the coronavirus outbreak? Guest Author March 19, 2020 With governments and workplaces now rapidly escalating their responses to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the crisis has shone a spotlight on the inherent precariousness of casual employment here at home. UPDATE: Casual employees (of 12 months or more) are entitled to government’s JobKeeper payment McDonald Murholme Senior Associate Arthur Hambas says that casual workers are particularly vulnerable due to the nature of their employment. “Casual employment is essentially defined by the lack of any firm commitment, by either employer or employee, about how long the employment will last as well as the hours and days on which they will work. It accordingly follows that an employer will not typically be under any obligation to offer a casual employee ongoing work and similarly, the casual employee will not be under any obligation to accept work when it is offered. “Because of this, casual employees do not possess the suite of entitlements that permanent employees typically possess at law. These entitlements include access to paid personal leave when you are sick or injured, and access to paid carer’s leave to provide care for somebody who may be ill. COVID-19 related: Action taken to limit the economic consequences of COVID-19 Update: Massive economic stimulus to fight virus COVID-19 support should extend to sole traders too Brands pivot their marketing strategies in the wake of the