• The Fair Work Commission has recently considered the first case dealing with an application for casual choice made pursuant to recent amendments to the Fair Work Act which created an employee choice pathway to convert employment from casual to permanent.
• The decision provides guidance to employees and employers alike as to how the choice pathway provisions will operate in practice.
• The application in this case was successful despite the employer’s argument that the order would be inconsistent with the terms of the applicable enterprise agreement. Reconciling a right to conversion under the employee choice pathway with limitations in an enterprise agreement may prove challenging for employers.

In Gregory Baker v Macquarie University [2026] FWC 3054, the Fair Work Commission considered, for the first time, the operation of amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (‘FW Act’) relating to casual employment, which commenced operation on 26 August 2024, providing employees an ’employee choice pathway’. This pathway is part of the National Employment Standards (‘NES’).

Under these amendments, an eligible employee can provide a written notice to their employer stating they believe they no longer meet the revised requirements for casual employment, as set out in section 15A(1) of the FW Act, and seek to have their employment status converted from casual to permanent (whether full-time or part-time).

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