Casual employees in Australia do not get paid sick leave. Under the National Employment Standards (NES), paid personal/carer’s leave — the entitlement most people call sick leave — is available to full-time and part-time employees only, and casuals are expressly excluded.
Casuals are not left with nothing, though. They have three real entitlements when illness strikes: unpaid carer’s leave, unpaid compassionate leave, and, since 2024, a statutory pathway to convert to permanent employment and start accruing paid leave.
Key Takeaways
- Casuals get no paid personal/carer’s leave. The casual loading is the trade-off for that.
- Casuals do get 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion and 2 days of unpaid compassionate leave per occasion, per the Fair Work Ombudsman.
- Casuals do get 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave — the one paid leave entitlement casuals share with permanents.
- The employee choice pathway (from 26 August 2024) lets eligible casuals notify their employer in writing that they want to become permanent.
Do Casual Employees Get Paid Sick Leave in Australia?
No. Section 96 of the Fair Work Act 2009 gives paid personal/carer’s leave to national system employees “other than a casual employee”. If you are genuinely engaged as a casual and you call in sick, you are simply not rostered and not paid for that shift.
The rationale is the casual loading — typically 25% on top of the base rate under most modern awards — which is paid specifically to compensate for the absence of paid leave and notice entitlements. You receive the value of leave in every pay packet instead of banking it.
This means two things follow automatically:
- There is nothing to accrue, so a casual’s payslip should never show a personal leave balance.
- There is nothing to pay out on termination for personal leave, because unused personal/carer’s leave is never paid out for anyone under the NES.
What Casual Employees Do Get When Someone Is Sick
Three entitlements apply to casuals directly.
| Entitlement | Amount | Paid? | Available to casuals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid personal/carer’s leave | 10 days per year | Paid | No |
| Unpaid carer’s leave | 2 days per occasion | Unpaid | Yes |
| Unpaid compassionate leave | 2 days per occasion | Unpaid | Yes |
| Family and domestic violence leave | 10 days per year | Paid | Yes |
Unpaid carer’s leave
Every employee, casual included, can take 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion to care for or support an immediate family or household member who is ill, injured, or affected by an unexpected emergency. It can be taken as two consecutive days or split, if the employer agrees.
The rule that catches people out: unpaid carer’s leave is only available when there is no paid personal/carer’s leave left for that occasion. For a casual that condition is always met, so the two days are always accessible.
Unpaid compassionate leave
Casuals get 2 days of unpaid compassionate leave per occasion when an immediate family or household member dies or develops a life-threatening illness or injury, and for a miscarriage or stillbirth. It does not accumulate — it resets for each qualifying occasion.
Paid family and domestic violence leave
This is the exception to the “casuals don’t get paid leave” rule. Since 1 February 2023, all employees including casuals are entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave per 12-month period, available in full from day one rather than accrued.
Note what is not on the list: unpaid carer’s leave does not cover the casual’s own illness. There is no NES entitlement — paid or unpaid — for a casual who is personally sick. What protects them is the general protection against dismissal for a temporary absence due to illness or injury, not a leave entitlement.
Can a Casual Be Rostered Off or Dismissed for Calling In Sick?
An employer is not obliged to offer a casual any particular shift, and declining a shift because you are unwell is not a breach by either side. But the picture changes when a pattern of retaliation emerges.
Under the general protections in Part 3-1 of the Fair Work Act, an employer must not take adverse action against an employee because they exercised a workplace right — including taking unpaid carer’s leave. For long-term casuals with a regular pattern of work, cutting shifts after a genuine illness can amount to adverse action, and long-term casuals can also access unfair dismissal remedies.
If you are personally unwell, get a medical certificate anyway. It costs little and it is the evidence that turns a bare absence into a protected temporary absence due to illness.
The Casual Conversion Route to Paid Sick Leave
The most durable answer to “how do I get paid sick leave as a casual?” is to stop being a casual.
Since 26 August 2024, the Fair Work Act’s employee choice pathway lets a casual give their employer written notice that they want to change to full-time or part-time employment. To use it, you must:
- have been employed for at least 6 months (12 months if your employer is a small business employer), and
- believe you no longer meet the Fair Work Act’s definition of a casual employee — broadly, that the real substance of the relationship now involves a firm advance commitment to continuing work.
Your employer must consult you and respond in writing within 21 days. If they accept, the change takes effect from the start of the next full pay period unless you agree otherwise. The Fair Work Ombudsman sets out the process and the limited grounds for refusal on its casual conversion page.
What happens to leave after conversion
Paid personal/carer’s leave starts accruing from the date of conversion, progressively, exactly as it would for a new permanent hire. Casual service before conversion does not retrospectively generate a paid leave balance — though it usually counts as continuous service for long service leave and for the unfair dismissal qualifying period.
A worked comparison. Jordan works a steady 30 hours a week.
- As a casual on $30/hour plus 25% loading: $37.50/hour. A week off sick costs Jordan $1,125 in lost pay.
- After conversion to part-time at $30/hour: Jordan accrues personal/carer’s leave pro rata — 10 days at 6 hours = 60 hours a year — so that same week is largely covered, but every worked week pays $225 less.
Conversion is a genuine trade, not a free upgrade. Jordan gives up roughly $11,700 of loading a year in exchange for paid leave, notice and redundancy protection. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on how regular the work really is.
What This Means for You
- Casual employees: you have no paid sick leave, but you do have 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion, unpaid compassionate leave, and 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. Keep a medical certificate for your own illnesses.
- Employers: never record a paid personal leave balance against a casual, and never deduct one. Do record unpaid carer’s leave — it is still a leave record you are required to keep.
- Check the classification first. Many workers labelled casual are, in substance, permanent. If someone works a fixed roster with an advance commitment, the label will not protect you.
For the wider picture of what casuals are and are not entitled to across every leave type, read our guide to casual employee leave rights in Australia. For how the paid entitlement works once someone converts, see personal leave, sick leave and carer’s leave in Australia, and for the terminology trap behind it all, sick leave vs personal leave.
Leave Balance handles mixed workforces without forcing casuals into permanent leave rules — separate employment types, correct accrual behaviour for each, and unpaid leave types that are recorded but never accrue a balance.
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This article is general information about Australian workplace entitlements, not legal advice. Check your applicable modern award or enterprise agreement, or contact the Fair Work Ombudsman, for advice about your situation.