• Section 1 - Purpose and Scope
• Section 2 - Key Controls
• Section 3 - Process and Key Requirements
• Identify a need for casual employment
• Sourcing
• Appointment
• Legislative Requirements
• Concurrent Casual Appointments
• Remuneration
• Section 4 - Roles, Responsibilities and Accountabilities
• Section 5 - Monitoring, Review and Assurance
• Section 6 - Recording and Reporting

Section 1 - Purpose and Scope

(1) This Procedure outlines the University’s procedure for the employment of Casual Employees.

Section 2 - Key Controls

(2) All Casual Employees (Professional and Academic) at the University must be appointed in accordance with the Enterprise Agreement, including pay rates, occupational categories and duties and minimum engagement requirements.

(3) Appointments are made in accordance with the principles of the Recruitment, Selection and Appointment Policy.

(4) Casual Employees must not be directed or allowed to commence any work until a valid University offer of casual employment has been issued and accepted by the Casual Employee.

(5) Casual employment is characterised by:

1. The variation of hours of work from week to week, at the sole discretion of the University; and
2. the absence of any advance commitment of ongoing or indefinite work; and
3. engagements being subject to the operational needs of the University.

(6) Casual appointments may be appropriate for ad hoc and/or short-term vacancies where a clear need for the work to be completed has been established for purposes such as:

1. Work on an as-needed basis: When the work is required on an as-needed basis (e.g. to cover academic teaching, ad-hoc administrative support, or temporary event staffing).
2. Short-term need: For work that is expected to be completed within a period not exceeding 6 months.
3. Unpredictable demand: Roles where the workload fluctuates and cannot be predicted with certainty (e.g. short-term research assistance).
4. Periodical requirements (i.e. exam invigilation).

Section 3 - Process and Key Requirements

Identify a need for casual employment

(7) Course Coordination, teaching and teaching related activities should be allocated first to continuing and/or fixed-term employees in accordance with the relevant academic workload allocation model in operation within the academic unit.

(8) Where a need for casual employment is identified the hiring manager must ensure that:

1. The establishment of the position has been authorised in accordance with the HR Sub-Delegations Instrument; and
2. Where possible workforce planning outcomes support the appropriateness of a casual appointment (engage with HR Client Partnering); and
3. Funding is available (engage with Finance Professional Services Team); and
4. Relevant pre-commencement requirements have been identified – such as immunisation requirements, sanctions check and professional registrations (i.e. working with children check, practicing certificate, CPA, AHPRA etc).

(9) Requests to engage Casual Employees are made via:

1. a Workday request framework; or
2. a Workday job requisition; or
3. where multiple casual roles (more than 10) are sought to be recruited, the hiring manager should contact Human Resources for assistance and should use the bulk evergreen recruitment process via Workday; or
4. UQ Temps (refer to clause 12).

(10) Wherever possible and particularly where the engagement is in the same school/faculty/division (e.g. casual academic employee teaching more than one course in the same School), Casual Employees should be engaged on one position number or record.

Sourcing

(11) Talent Pool - vacancies for Casual Employees may be filled from a ‘pool’ of people with indicated interest that organisational units may create for this purpose. A pool may be utilised for selection and appointment over more than one teaching semester or recruitment activity. It is recommended that the pool be regularly reviewed and refreshed to ensure that a diverse range of candidates are available.

(12) UQ Temps is a University-owned, campus-based recruitment service that helps clients to find talented casual employees for short-term placements. This service specialises in assisting to fill Professional roles in general administration.

(13) Advertisement - to allow adequate time for recruitment and appointment processes and for each appointed Casual Employee to receive appropriate induction please note the following minimum requirements:

1. Casual Academic vacancies should normally be advertised at least eight (8) weeks prior to the start of each semester.
2. Casual Professional vacancies should normally be advertised at least three (3) weeks prior to the expected commencement date.

(14) Student Priority - Vacancies may be advertised either internally or externally, however casual employment opportunities must be made known to suitably qualified University students as a preferred source of candidates.

(15) Direct Appointment - If a suitable candidate has already been identified for the appointment, the hiring manager is responsible for ensuring that the candidate management and appointment requirements within this Procedure are met.

Appointment

(16) The Casual Employee will be provided with an Offer of Casual Appointment letter as their instrument of engagement. This letter includes details of the University’s work entitlements and conditions for Casual Employees as detailed within the Enterprise Agreement.

(17) The following requirements must be met before a Casual appointment may be confirmed;

1. Valid working rights, experience and qualifications (or deemed equivalence) required for the role; and
2. Confirm whether they are currently employed by UQ* or any other organisations; and
3. Identification of any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest in accordance with the Conflict of Interest Policy;
4. Notice to the candidate of any required pre-employment checks (i.e. working with children, police checks etc); and
5. The Casual Employee has not been the subject of allegations of misconduct, including research misconduct, gender-based violence or sexual misconduct with any former employer.
   
   The University reserves the right to not confirm or proceed with any casual appointment in circumstances where the above pre-employment checks have not been completed to the satisfaction of the University.

(18) All Casual Employee appointments must be approved by the Authorised Officer in accordance with the HR Sub-delegations prior to offer.

(19) Confirmation of appointment should be provided to all new Casual Employees well in advance of commencement.

(20) The successful candidate must accept this offer in Workday before they are appointed as an employee and can commence work at the University.

(21) Supervisors must not direct a casual to complete any work, including mandatory training prior to the agreed date of commencement.

(22) Mandatory training should be scheduled by the Supervisor to coincide with the beginning or end of an existing work activity. Time taken to complete mandatory training is paid in accordance with the Enterprise Agreement and where possible should be completed in a single block of time.

Legislative Requirements

(23) Upon employment, at the 6 month and 12-month anniversary of employment, and every subsequent period of 12 months of employment thereafter, employees will be provided with the Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS) via Workday for reference of casual conversion in accordance with the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

Concurrent Casual Appointments

(24) In accordance with Clause 29 – Concurrent Casual Appointments – of the Enterprise Agreement, continuing and fixed-term employees of the University may be employed on a casual basis in addition to their substantive appointment, provided that;

1. The concurrent casual appointment is for a role that is separate and distinct from that of the substantive continuing or fixed-term appointment; and
2. The employee has consulted and sought agreement with their substantive appointment supervisor prior to engaging in a concurrent casual appointment; and
3. The substantive appointment supervisor has given reasonable consideration to the request and the impacts of the proposed concurrent appointment such as health and safety and operational requirements.

(25) The total hours worked in each role will not be treated cumulatively for the purposes of calculating employee entitlements including overtime or any applicable penalty payments.

Remuneration

(26) Casual Academic Employees:

1. are paid in accordance with the relevant duties to be performed and the minimum engagement terms outlined in Schedule 4 of the Enterprise Agreement.
2. are required to complete a timesheet to receive payment for work performed in the previous fortnight, according to UQ’s Payroll Calendar.
3. unscheduled activities such as marking or any other activities that the employee has been directed to perform during the fortnight must be included as part of the timesheet completed by the employee prior to submission.
4. all timesheet entries made by the employee must be reviewed and approved or denied by the supervisor.

(27) Scheduled hours and teaching activities for Casual Academic Employees must be allocated in accordance with UQ’s Academic Activity Typology (where applicable).

(28) Schools will develop marking guidelines to ensure the fair, consistent and reasonable allocation of hours for marking activities for Casual Academic Employees based on the complexity and volume (e.g. word count) of the assessment. Scheduled hours for marking activities which are assigned to Casual Academic Employees must be allocated according to these guidelines.

(29) If a Casual Academic Employee is of the view that the time allocated to a particular task is not sufficient, they should discuss their concerns with their supervisor before undertaking any additional work. If the concerns are not addressed following the discussion with their supervisor, the employee may raise their concerns with the Head of School.

(30) Casual Professional Employees (HEW 1-9):
Except where specified in a relevant Schedule according to an occupational category (i.e. Security shift superintendents) or organisational unit (i.e. UQ Venues) the following applies:

1. Casual Professional Employees are paid in accordance with the minimum engagement period requirements per clause 37 of the Enterprise Agreement.
2. Duties to be performed must align with the appropriate HEW Level outlined in Schedule 5 of the Enterprise Agreement.
3. Hourly rates of pay are calculated based on Schedule 6 for the relevant HEW Level with a 25% casual loading, or at the rate stipulated in the relevant Schedule where required.

(31) Casual Professional Employees HEW10 are paid according to the terms of their contract of employment.

Section 4 - Roles, Responsibilities and Accountabilities

Section 5 - Monitoring, Review and Assurance

(32) The Chief Human Resources Officer is responsible for continuous monitoring of the effectiveness, application and improvement of this Procedure.

Section 6 - Recording and Reporting

(33) Recording and reporting are completed in accordance with legislative and UQ requirements.

(34) Human Resources is responsible for retaining records in relation to casual employment in accordance with the Information Management Policy and procedures and the Privacy Policy.

(35) Transactions and approvals referred to in this Procedure are recorded in the Human Capital Management System.