While not to this scale, most retailers and hospitality businesses will be taking on extra staff to cover Christmas demand.
As an employer, when it comes to hiring these seasonal workers, it’s important to ensure you that you draw up appropriate employment contracts setting down the terms of the employment. There are also a number of compliance obligations that you need to be aware of. Tip: Use the employee management tools on enableHR to create compliant, unambiguous employment contracts in minutes.
Casuals
From a management perspective, modern awards typically specify minimum and maximum periods of engagement for casuals. You also need to keep a record of all shifts worked, and payments given. While casual employees are typically not entitled to paid annual leave, paid personal leave or payment in lieu of public holidays, you do have to pay them a casual loading to compensate. As part of the National Employment Standards, casuals are entitled to up to two days unpaid carer’s leave for each occasion that a family or household member needs care. Any casuals that you employ on a long-term basis may also qualify for long service leave.
Contractors
If you choose to engage the seasonal worker as an independent contractor, again it’s critical to set out the terms of the engagement by creating an Independent Contractor Agreement. As a word or warning, just because a worker has an ABN or invoices for payment, it does not automatically mean they are an independent contractor. Equally, calling someone an independent contractor or getting them to sign a contract saying they’re an independent contractor doesn’t automatically make them one either.
Hiring a worker who should be an employee as an independent contractor is known as sham contracting and is penalised heavily by the courts.
To steer clear of engaging in sham contracting, whether unintentional or otherwise, it’s important to recognise that if your workers look like employees, and act like employees, then it’s highly likely that they are employees.
Tip: Use the Bona Fide Independent Contractor Test in the Contactor Management module on enableHR to determine the validity of an independent contacting relationship.
New workplace bullying laws
While you may have already instigated workplace training and education for your existing employees in line with the new workplace bullying laws that come into effect on 1 January 2014, you need to be mindful that you educate any casual workers or independent contractors coming into your business now. They need to be clearly briefed on acceptable behaviour, and what to do if they experience bullying or harassment. Under the new laws a worker (which includes employees, contractors, subcontractors, outworkers, apprentices, trainees and students gaining work experience as well as volunteers) can apply to the Fair Work Commission for an order to stop the bullying, which is defined as repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety.
Work Health and Safety
In terms of workplace health and safety, it’s important to bear in mind your responsibilities to ensure that all workers, including casuals and contractors, receive a thorough induction and WHS training before they start work.
Under the model WHS laws, a worker is broadly defined to mean a person who carries out work in any capacity for a business or undertaking and this includes employees, outworkers, apprentices, trainees, students gaining work experience, volunteers, contractors or subcontractors and their employees.
However in reality, casual employees tend to receive far less WHS training than permanent staff regardless of the fact that you as the employer are equally responsible for them while they are engaged in work. In addition it is particularly important to ensure that casuals not only receive adequate WHS training, but that they are appropriately supervised to ensure that they are doing their job safely.
Tip: Use the WHS resources on enableHR for practical help with implementing WHS systems in your business.
>> Find out more about enableHR’s trouble-free employee management and WHS tools, templates and guides.
