Are casual workers being short-changed?

Despite the premium casual workers are paid for the loss of certain entitlements, temporary workers in Australia are purportedly earning less than permanent employees, according to a recent analysis.

Employers are mandated to pay a casual loading (additional hourly pay) of 15% to 25% to help offset casual workers’ lack of benefits and entitlements such as holiday leave or sick leave.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), however, found that the casual loading for some occupations only ranges from 4% to 5% of a casual worker’s hourly pay.

The ACTU referred to the findings of Joshua Healy, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Workplace Leadership at the University of Melbourne, to uncover how 10 occupations – with a high concentration of temporary workers – remunerated casuals.

Labourers, sales assistants, hospitality workers, food preparation assistants, personal carers, cleaners, and laundry workers received a premium of 5% or less, the report said.

Meanwhile, other casual workers, such as clerks, sports/fitness staff, and packers and assemblers, earned less than their permanent counterparts.

These 10 occupations employed more than half of Australia’s temporary workers, Healy said. He used data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016 survey of employee earnings and hours to compare the earnings of casual and permanent workers.

“People who are engaged as genuine casuals should receive a genuine premium for the lack of paid leave and job security,” said ACTU Secretary Sally McManus in a report on The Guardian.

“Big business has been rorting our system, using loopholes and underhanded arrangements to pay some casuals even less than permanent workers doing the same job.”