• Section 1 - Preamble
• Section 2 - Purpose
• Section 3 - Scope
• Section 4 - Policy
• Section 5 - Procedure
• Recruitment
• Employment of new casual staff
• Induction
• Variation to a casual engagement
• Monitoring use of casual staff
• Re-employment of staff
• Timesheets
• Minimum period of engagement
• Termination of engagement
• Supervisor responsibilities and access to facilities
• Superannuation
• Casual long service leave
• Additional duties for Academic staff
• Conversion from casual employment
• Development of casual staff engaged in teaching
• Section 6 - Definitions

Section 1 - Preamble

(1) This Procedure is effective from 7 October 2018.

Section 2 - Purpose

(2) This Procedure outlines the process for recruiting and employing casual staff at the University.

Section 3 - Scope

(3) This Procedure applies to Academic and Professional casual staff employed by the University.

Section 4 - Policy

(4) This Procedure is pursuant to the Employment of Staff policy.

Section 5 - Procedure

Recruitment

(5) Casual employment provides a mechanism for a Head of Organisational Unit or nominee to engage staff on a flexible and short term basis to meet their areas' needs during peak work periods, for identified tasks, and/or to cover short term absences.

(6) A position description is not required for casual appointments, however, the Human Resources Division (HRD) may establish generic casual duty statements for casual positions with similar duties as appropriate.

(7) Advertising is not compulsory for the recruitment of casual staff. The Head of Organisational Unit or nominee may offer casual work to prospective staff on the basis of referrals or knowledge of the prospective staff member.

(8) The Head of Organisational Unit or nominee may request the assistance of HRD in recruiting casual staff, which may include assistance in advertising the vacancy on the DeakinPeople casual register. HRD can also provide the Head of Organisational Unit or nominee with access to the casual register.

(9) The Head of Organisational Unit or nominee must conduct an informal interview with a prospective casual staff member to discuss the work requirements. The Head of Organisational Unit or nominee is responsible for ensuring the prospective casual staff member:

1. has the necessary skills and competencies
2. has the right to work in Australia
3. is provided with an opportunity to identify any potential conflicts of interest in undertaking the casual employment in accordance with the Conflict of Interest procedure
4. holds a current Employee Working with Children Check if required in accordance with the University’s Working with Children Check Guidelines.

(10) The Head of Organisational Unit or nominee must obtain a minimum of one verbal reference check.

Employment of new casual staff

(11) The Head of Organisational Unit or nominee must complete the Casual Engagement Form with the casual appointee, who will be provided with a copy of the Casual Engagement Form, which includes the following information:

1. the terms of employment
2. the duties to be performed
3. the estimated hours of work
4. the rate of pay
5. the Faculty guidelines on casual academic marking (where applicable); and
6. a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement.

(12) The casual appointee is required to provide relevant original proof of identity status (including an original marriage certificate or statutory declaration in relation to a change of name from that recorded at birth) and right to work evidence to their supervisor, who will then provide a copy of this to HRD. Where the original documents are not produced, certified copies must be shown to the supervisor, who will forward the certified copy to HRD.

(13) The casual appointee may also be required to provide evidence of qualifications in the form of original documents where this is determined by the supervisor as relevant to the position.

(14) The completed Casual Engagement Form, and all relevant proof of identity, right to work and qualifications (where relevant) must be provided by the supervisor to HRD prior to the casual appointee performing any work at the University.

Induction

(15) During the casual staff member's first employment engagement, the supervisor should clarify the role and performance expectations of the position with the casual staff member, and provide any additional information as required including an induction to the University and the local work area.

Variation to a casual engagement

(16) If the current work area, or another area of the University, wishes to create a new employee record or update an existing employee record for a current casual Academic or Professional staff member, they must complete the Variation to Casual Engagement Email Template.

(17) The Variation to Casual Engagement Email Template must be submitted by the Head of Organisational Unit or nominee to HRD. HRD will then advise the casual staff member of the variation.

Monitoring use of casual staff

(18) The use of casual employment should be monitored regularly by the relevant Head of Organisational Unit or nominee taking into account the current and potentially continuing nature of the workload, skill requirements and funding. If the requirements of a position have changed, then the casual mode of employment should be re-assessed.

(19) A casual appointment may be terminated at any time by either the Head of the Organisational Unit or nominee or the casual staff member. Where a casual staff member has been employed on a regular and systematic basis by the University for more than six months, the relevant Head of the Organisational Unit or nominee should seek advice from HRD if they no longer wish to engage the casual staff member.

(20) In February each year, HRD will request the Head of the Organisational Unit or nominee to advise HRD of all casual staff members who are no longer being engaged by their area.

Re-employment of staff

(21) Staff whose continuing or fixed term employment at the University has ceased due to redundancy (whether voluntary or otherwise) will not be re-employed by the University in any capacity, including as a casual staff member, within 12 months of their cessation date.

(22) If a Head of Organisational Unit or nominee wants to re-employ a person who has previously performed casual work for the University and whose casual jobs have expired, they will need to complete a new Casual Engagement Form.

Timesheets

(23) Casual staff members are paid by submitting an online casual timesheet through DeakinPeople.

Minimum period of engagement

(24) Casual Professional staff will be engaged for the following minimum periods, unless otherwise agreed to meet their personal circumstances:

1. 1 hour for staff with a primary occupation at the University or elsewhere outside the University
2. 1 hour for current students of the University
3. 3 hours for all others.

(25) Casual Academic staff will be employed by the hour and paid on an hourly basis.

Termination of engagement

(26) A casual appointment may be terminated at any time by either the Head of Organisational Unit or nominee or the casual staff member.

Supervisor responsibilities and access to facilities

(27) Where possible, the University will seek to provide all casual Academic staff members undertaking work during a teaching period access to information technology and library facilities for the entire teaching period in which they have undertaken their teaching duties.

(28) Supervisors are responsible for arranging for casual staff members to be provided with access to the appropriate systems, resources and information in order to undertake the relevant duties of the casual engagement.

(29) Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that appropriate communication and protections are in place where the casual duties require the casual staff member to access to any type of sensitive information. This is particularly important when engaging students. Supervisors should contact their HR Adviser for further advice in relation to this area as required.

Superannuation

(30) The University will pay contributions to UniSuper for casual staff members in accordance with the Deakin University Enterprise Agreement 2017.

Casual long service leave

(31) Where a casual staff member has completed seven years of regular and systematic service with the University without having a break of greater than 20 weeks, they will be eligible for long service leave.

(32) Further information is provided on the Casual Long Service leave website.

Additional duties for Academic staff

(33) Where an Academic staff member is requested by their supervisor to undertake casual duties in addition to and separate from the duties specified in their continuing or fixed-term contract, they are deemed to be a casual staff member for the extra hours worked.

Conversion from casual employment

(34) Casual Professional staff employed by the University on a regular basis may be eligible to apply for conversion to non-casual employment in accordance with Schedule F of the Deakin University Enterprise Agreement 2017. Staff should contact their HR Adviser for further information in relation to casual conversion.

(35) Casual Professional staff seeking a conversion should contact the HR Adviser for further information in relation to casual conversion.

(36) The University may refuse a request to convert in certain circumstances (see clause 5, Schedule F of the Deakin University Enterprise Agreement 2017).

Development of casual staff engaged in teaching

(37) A casual Academic staff member who is/has been engaged to deliver teaching for at least one teaching period within an Academic Year will be entitled to access and be compensated for the following for hours of learning and development activities annually:

1. the internally developed online professional development program ‘Teaching Essentials’ (2 hours); and
2. specific professional development training within the work unit (1 hour); and
3. a casual Academic suite of online compliance training (1 hour) as outlined on the Staff Development website.

(38) Eligible casual Academic staff members will be entitled to complete the above training, subject to manager approval, and upon completion are able to claim the corresponding amount of hours as part of an online timesheet  via DeakinPeople under 161PR Professional Development or 161PRB Professional Development (PhD).

(39) It is the responsibility of the supervisor to check and approve the timesheet accordingly.

(40) Payment and offerings of additional professional development outside of clause 39 (a-c) of this Procedure is at the discretion of the organisational unit. Professional development outside of clause 38 (a-c) should be entered into DeakinPeople under 161A – other Academic duties or 161B other Academic duties (PhD).

Section 6 - Definitions

(41) For the purpose of this Procedure:

1. casual staff: Academic or Professional staff engaged by and paid on an hourly basis, with a loading to compensate for benefits (such as recreation and sick leave) for which a casual employee is not eligible.
2. Head of Organisational Unit: means the Vice-Chancellor, a member of the Executive, an Executive Dean, a Pro Vice-Chancellor, a Head of School or Department, an Executive Director, a Director (including a Director of an Institute), University Librarian and University Solicitor.