Casual versus permanent part-time: your rights in New Zealand

What makes a job casual

Casual employment is not defined in New Zealand law. Employment New Zealand describes it as an arrangement where you work when it suits you and the employer, can turn down work, have no regular pattern of work and do not expect ongoing employment. It runs both ways: the employer does not have to provide work, and you do not have to take it.

If there is a dispute, the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court look past the label. You are unlikely to be casual if:

• there is a regular pattern of work, or you are rostered in advance;
• you must tell the employer, and get their agreement, when you will not be available;
• the work is ongoing, with no significant breaks, and your start and finish times are consistent;
• the business relies on you to get the work done.

A casual agreement must still be in writing, like every employment agreement. It should make clear that there is no guarantee of work on any day, that the amount of work will vary, how you will be told about work, and that you do not have to accept it.

Permanent part-time: set hours and full rights

Part-time has no legal definition either, but Employment New Zealand generally treats it as under 30 hours a week, with regular and guaranteed hours or days. The guarantee is what separates it from casual work. If your agreement sets your hours, your employer cannot change them without your agreement, and even where the agreement allows changes, they must act fairly and reasonably.

Permanent part-time employees have the same minimum entitlements and employment rights as permanent full-time employees. Two points often catch people out:

• Zero-hour contracts are illegal. An agreement cannot guarantee you no hours and still require you to work whenever asked.
• Being on call must be paid for. An employer can only require you to be available for work beyond your guaranteed hours if your agreement has an availability provision, a clause allowed by section 67D of the Employment Relations Act, and only with genuine reasons and reasonable compensation for being available. Without one, you can say no to extra work, and you must not be treated worse for it.

Our guide to employment rights in New Zealand sets out the minimums that apply to every employee, casual or permanent.

Holiday pay: the 8% and when it is lawful

Every employee is entitled to four weeks' paid annual holidays after twelve months of continuous employment. Some employees can instead be paid holiday pay as they go: at least 8% of gross earnings, added to each pay.

This is only allowed in two situations: the work is so irregular or intermittent that giving four weeks' holidays is impracticable, or you are on a genuine fixed-term agreement of less than twelve months. Being called casual is not enough. Employment New Zealand says impracticable means impossible in practice, not just inconvenient. Pay-as-you-go must also be agreed in your employment agreement and shown as an identifiable amount of your pay.

For example, at $25 an hour for 20 hours a week, 8% adds $40 to $500 of pay, making $540 before tax. If an employer pays pay-as-you-go when you do not qualify, you keep the payments and are still entitled to four weeks' paid holidays.

These rules come from the Holidays Act 2003. The Employment Leave Act 2026 will replace it on 6 August 2028, and until then the current rules apply.

Sick leave, notice and cancelled shifts

Sick leave. Full-time, part-time or casual, you are entitled to ten days' paid sick leave a year once you have worked for the same employer continuously for six months. If your work has not been continuous, six months still counts if you worked an average of at least ten hours a week, with at least one hour every week or 40 hours every month. A casual employee who qualifies can take it on a day they would otherwise have worked.

Notice. Casual employees do not usually have to give notice, and employers do not have to give it either, because employment ends after each period of work. The exceptions are when you have already started, or accepted, a piece of work, or when your agreement requires notice. Permanent part-time employees give and get notice like anyone else.

Cancelled shifts. For shift workers, section 67G of the Employment Relations Act says an employer can cancel a shift only if your agreement sets a reasonable notice period and reasonable compensation for cancelling. If there is no such clause, or you are told only when the shift starts, or you are sent home partway through, you are entitled to what you would have earned. If you are casual, an employer going back on work you have accepted could count as a dismissal.

When a casual job has become something more

Casual work often settles into a pattern. Employment New Zealand gives the example of a site inspector whose agreement calls her casual. She has worked every Tuesday and Thursday for three months, and has been told she must work, and must give two weeks' notice if she will not be available. She is a permanent part-time employee, whatever her agreement says.

When that happens, the employer should give you a new agreement that matches the real arrangement, review your holiday and leave entitlements, and stop pay-as-you-go. They can no longer simply stop offering you work; ending the job needs a proper process. If you think you have been wrongly treated as casual, raise it with your employer first, and Employment New Zealand can help if that does not resolve it.

When you are choosing between a casual offer and a permanent part-time one, put both on the same footing. The Offer Comparer shows two offers side by side after tax, with no account: enter each as a yearly figure: the hourly rate, times the hours you expect each week, times 52. Our article on part-time versus full-time pay shows why fewer hours cost less in take-home pay than you might expect.

Keep every offer and its hours on record