Yes, many casual employees can claim unfair dismissal. You’re protected in the same way as permanent staff if your work was regular and systematic, you reasonably expected it to continue, and you had worked at least six months (or 12 months for a small business with fewer than 15 employees).
Below we explain how the Fair Work Commission decides, whether a casual can be fired for no reason, what happens if your shifts simply stop, and what to do in the 21 days after you’re let go.
Can a Casual Employee Be Fired for No Reason?
An employer can usually end a casual’s employment without notice, but not always without a fair reason. If you’re a regular casual who has passed the minimum employment period, your employer needs a valid reason and a fair process. The reason has to relate to your conduct, your capacity or a genuine redundancy. Without both, the dismissal can be unfair, just as it would be for a permanent employee.
Some reasons are unlawful however long you’ve worked, even if you started last week. They include dismissing you for asking about your pay, making a complaint, being temporarily absent through illness or injury, joining a union, or because of your age, race, sex, disability, pregnancy or another protected attribute.
What Is a Casual Employee?
Under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), you’re a casual employee if your employer makes no firm advance commitment to continuing, indefinite work. Since 26 August 2024, the Commission decides this on the real substance and practical reality of the job, not just the label in your contract. Casuals are usually paid a casual loading instead of paid annual and personal leave.
There were 2.4 million casual employees in Australia in August 2025, about one in five employees. The casual label often doesn’t match how the job actually runs, and plenty of casuals work a fixed roster for years.
What Do Casuals Need to Claim Unfair Dismissal?
Casual employees face the same tests as everyone else. The only difference is that casual service counts towards the minimum employment period only if you were a regular casual with a reasonable expectation of ongoing work.
| Test | What it means | How it applies to casuals |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum employment period | 6 months’ service, or 12 months if your employer has fewer than 15 employees | Casual service counts only if it was regular and systematic and you reasonably expected it to continue |
| You were dismissed | Your employment ended at your employer’s initiative | Shifts stopping can count (see below) |
| Award coverage or earnings | Covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement, or earning under $190,100 a year | Most casuals are award-covered, so this is rarely the barrier |
| Not a genuine redundancy | The job was genuinely no longer needed and consultation obligations were met | Your employer has to prove this |
| Small Business Fair Dismissal Code | A small business that follows the Code can defend the claim | Regular casuals count towards the 15-employee headcount |
What Does “Regular and Systematic” Mean?
The Act doesn’t define it. The Commission has said “regular” means a repeated pattern, not identical hours, and “systematic” means there was a system, method or plan to how you were given work. It’s the employment that has to be regular, not your hours.
Signs that tend to help your claim:
- working the same days each week, even if your hours varied
- being placed on a published roster in advance
- steady weekly hours over a number of months
- being relied on to cover set shifts
What Counts as a Reasonable Expectation of Ongoing Work?
There are two parts. You must have actually expected the work to continue, and that expectation must have been reasonable. Being rostered week after week, talking with your manager about future shifts, or being treated as part of the regular team all help. The Commission has also said that having a second job or studying doesn’t, on its own, cancel out that expectation.
What Recent Fair Work Commission Decisions Show
- A casual removalist won. In Coats v Palmers Relocations [2025] FWC 1176, the employer argued a casual hadn’t served the minimum period. The Commission found he had a regular and systematic pattern of work over more than three years, and that he was unfairly dismissed.
- A long-serving ABC casual was found to have been dismissed when his rolling contract wasn’t renewed after about six years of regular work ([2026] FWC 3009, 7 August 2026). The dismissal took effect on the day it was communicated to him by phone, not when the decision was made internally.
- Long service alone wasn’t enough. In Hillyer v Chapman Valley Horse Riding [2026] FWC 1668, a casual with about two years and eight months of service lost because her shifts in the months before her dismissal were sporadic. A casual school worker with 19 shifts in a year also lost ([2026] FWC 3125). The Commission said expecting more casual shifts isn’t the same as expecting regular and systematic work.
The pattern is clear. The Commission looks at how your work actually ran, especially in the months leading up to your dismissal.
Your Shifts Stopped. Is That a Dismissal?
Often, yes. If you were a regular casual and your employer stops rostering you, stops replying to you, or lets a rolling contract lapse, that can be a dismissal even if nobody used the word.
The test: In August 2026, a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission set out the test. The question is whether a reasonable person in your and your employer’s position would have understood the employer’s conduct as bringing the job to an end.
A casual chef with a settled Tuesday to Thursday pattern, taken off every shift with a text blaming a downturn in business, was found to have been dismissed, even though his staff profile stayed active. By contrast, an ABC casual whose shifts were cut but never to zero, and who kept being offered work, was found not to have been dismissed ([2026] FWC 2714).
If your hours were cut rather than stopped, read our guide on what to do when your employer reduces your hours. Work out when you were told, or when it became clear the shifts weren’t coming back. Your 21 days generally start from that date.
Do Casual Employees Get Notice of Termination?
Usually not. The National Employment Standards don’t require notice for casual employees, although some awards and enterprise agreements do. Notice and fairness are separate questions. Getting no notice doesn’t make a dismissal fair, and getting notice doesn’t make it unfair. For more on warnings before a dismissal, see can you be fired without warning.
What If You Don’t Qualify for Unfair Dismissal?
A general protections claim has no minimum employment period and covers casual employees from their first shift. It applies if you were dismissed for exercising a workplace right (such as asking about your pay), for being temporarily absent through illness or injury, or because of a protected attribute. These claims are growing fast. In 2024-25, 6,209 general protections dismissal applications were made, 27% above the five-year average. The 21-day deadline still applies.
Not sure which claim fits? Read unfair dismissal vs unlawful termination.
Can a Casual Become Permanent?
Yes. Under the employee choice pathway, a casual who has worked for 6 months (or 12 months with a small business) can tell their employer in writing that they want to become permanent. Dismissing someone because they made that request can raise general protections issues.
Few casuals use this right. In 2024-25, 78% of casual employees told the Australian Bureau of Statistics they had never discussed converting to permanent work with their employer.
How Do You Lodge an Unfair Dismissal Claim as a Casual?
- Act within 21 days of the dismissal taking effect. Late applications are accepted only in exceptional circumstances. In the Hillyer case, the application was 38 days late and the Commission refused to extend the deadline.
- Lodge Form F2 with the Fair Work Commission. The application fee is $92.70 from 1 July 2026, and you can ask for a waiver if paying it would cause you serious hardship.
- Gather evidence of your work pattern: payslips, rosters, timesheets, rostering app screenshots, texts or emails about future shifts, and anything showing how you were told your job had ended.
- Prepare for conciliation. Most claims are resolved at a conciliation conference before any hearing.
What Could You Receive From an Unfair Dismissal Claim?
The main remedy is reinstatement, but compensation is more common in practice. For dismissals from 1 July 2026, compensation is capped at 26 weeks’ pay or $95,050, whichever is lower. For a casual, the Commission looks at what you would likely have earned if your employment had continued, so a steady roster history matters here too.
On your chances: in the April to June 2025 quarter, the Commission received 4,374 unfair dismissal applications. It found 39 dismissals unfair and 27 fair after a decision, while 3,839 matters were finalised without a decision being made. Most unfair dismissal claims are resolved by agreement, so preparing in the first few weeks counts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a casual employee be made redundant?
Casual employees generally aren’t entitled to redundancy pay under the National Employment Standards. But if an employer relies on redundancy to defend an unfair dismissal claim by a regular casual, it still has to show it was a genuine redundancy.
Can you be fired for calling in sick as a casual?
Dismissing someone because of a temporary absence through illness or injury can breach the general protections in the Fair Work Act, and that protection isn’t limited to permanent staff. Evidence such as a medical certificate is important.
Does your age affect whether you can claim?
No. There’s no minimum age to bring an unfair dismissal claim, so a 17-year-old casual faces the same eligibility tests as anyone else.
Do the rules change between states?
For most private sector workers, no. Unfair dismissal is a national system under the Fair Work Act, so the same rules apply in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and elsewhere. Some state public sector employees are covered by state systems instead.
Talk to an Employment Lawyer About Your Casual Dismissal
The 21-day window goes quickly, and casual claims often turn on details in your roster history. At Fair Workplace Solutions, you speak directly with a specialist employment lawyer, not an HR adviser in the middle, who can tell you whether your casual service counts and which claim fits. Call 1800 565 975 or contact us today, or learn more about our unfair dismissal lawyers.
This article is general information only and isn’t legal advice. Get advice about your own circumstances.
Sources
- Fair Work Ombudsman: Unfair dismissal
- Fair Work Commission: Application fee, high income threshold and compensation cap from 1 July 2026
- Fair Work Commission: Quarterly report to the Fair Work Ombudsman, April to June 2025
- Fair Work Commission Bulletin, 4 December 2025
- Australian Bureau of Statistics: Working arrangements, August 2025
- NSW Small Business Commissioner: Changes to casual employment laws
- Fair Work Commission decisions: Coats v Palmers Relocations [2025] FWC 1176; [2026] FWC 3009; Hillyer v Chapman Valley Horse Riding [2026] FWC 1668; [2026] FWC 3125; [2026] FWC 2714; Marlow Group Full Bench decision, [2026] FWCFB 227 (28 August 2026).