Changes to Fair Work Act – What were the key changes that came into effect on 26 August 2024?

There have been a range of changes to the Fair Work Act as part of the “Closing Loopholes” legislation. The changes come into effect at different times with some changes taking effect late last year and others due to come in mid-way through next year.  

We have set out below a simplified summary of the key changes that came into effect on 26 August 2024.

Right to Disconnect

Employees of non-small business employers now have a right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from either colleagues or third parties (such as clients) outside of their working hours unless doing so would be unreasonable. The changes will apply to small business employers from 26 August 2025. There is a further discussion about the implications of these changes set out below.

Casual Employees

The rules about how to define casual employment have changed with a greater focus on what happens after the contract is signed rather than just looking at what is set out in the contract. The definition focuses on assessing whether the employer has provided the employee with a firm advance commitment to ongoing and indefinite work and sets out various factors which will be relevant to this assessment. 

There has also been a change to the casual conversion provisions with a greater focus on employee choice. Casual employees can now request that their employment be converted to permanent after just 6 months (or 12 months for small business employers[1]) if they believe they no longer meet the casual employee definition. This is a change from the previous regime where employers were required to offer casual conversion to eligible employees if there was a regular pattern of hours on an ongoing basis.

Finally, the obligation to provide employees with the Casual Employment Information Statement has been expanded with employers needing to provide the statement at regular intervals[2] not just at the commencement of employment.

Independent Contractors

The rules about how to determine whether a worker is an employee have changed with a greater focus on the “whole relationship” as opposed to just looking at the terms of the written agreement. This means it will be even more important to ensure that independent contractors are genuine contractors as misclassification could lead to underpayment claims. However, there is an ability to opt out of the whole of relationship test where the contractor is earning above the high-income threshold[3].

There has also been a new unfair contract regime introduced which allows independent contractors under the high-income threshold to apply to the Fair Work Commission to set aside or vary a services contract if they think it contains an unfair term.

Regulated workers (Gig workers)

Finally, new regulations have been introduced for “employee-like workers” such as delivery drivers which will allow the Fair Work Commission to deal with matters such as unfair de-activations and minimum standards.

[1] Changes for small business employers take effect 26 February 2025.

[2] After the first 6 months and then every 12 months.

[3] Currently $175,000