Recently, around 20 casual employees at Brewarrina Shire Council were successful in gaining full-time employment through an organisational restructure. For some time, these members had been placed on term contracts for specific externally funded works and contracts, while effectively being employed on a casual basis. Council would employ them for up to 11 months of the year and would not engage them throughout the Christmas period.
The General Manager of Brewarrina Shire Council, David Kirby, is also a long-time member of the Union. He has a strong reputation within local government for supporting Indigenous and local workers.
In a meeting with Regional Official Jamie McKinnon and USU ATSI Engagement Officer Greg Wellington, Mr Kirby acknowledged the hard work of these casual employees and the contribution they had made across several projects around the Shire. He also acknowledged that reviewing the structure was a long time coming and said he was pleased to be finally progressing the organisational restructure.
Mr Kirby believes in looking after locals. By employing local workers within the permanent workforce, he can help support the long-term future and stability of Brewarrina Shire Council.
Under clause 28 of the Local Government (State) Award 2023, a casual employee engaged under this clause for a period in excess of 12 months may request that the employer review the nature of their engagement. This process does not automatically guarantee employment, as councils are required to conduct merit-based selection through a recruitment process under the Local Government Act.
Council made the decision to advertise the positions internally to reward long-term casual employees first, provided they were successful through the recruitment process. Members submitted their resumes and, after the process was completed, were informed that they had been successful in gaining full-time roles with council.
A little-known fact is that, since 1 July 2023, the Local Government (State) Award has included a subclause allowing casual employees to accrue long service leave at the rate of 0.8 weeks per year of service as a casual employee of council.
This means the casual employees at Brewarrina can now have their long service leave carried over. Now that they have gained full-time employment, they will accrue long service leave at the rate of 1.3 weeks per year.
For several Awards, there has also been a subclause highlighting the need for councils to recognise casual service prior to permanent employment where employees have worked on a regular and systematic basis.
For any member who has worked for under five years as a casual employee, they will need to wait until they have been employed for five years from their initial start date as a casual before they can access long service leave. This includes any long service leave entitlements accrued as a casual employee from 1 July 2023.
For any member who has worked for over five years as a casual employee, they can access their long service leave entitlements now, including entitlements accrued as a casual employee from 1 July 2023.
