A part time hospitality employee's hours are guaranteed to be provided and paid and can change only with their written consent, while a casual gets a 25% loading and no guarantee of any hours at all.
Skai Solutions builds phone agents for Australian and New Zealand venues, so we spend a lot of time inside the clauses that decide what a shift costs. This page compares the four ways to put someone on a shift, and leads with the three Restaurant Award clauses that decide the answer in practice rather than the loading everybody argues about.
One number does most of the work and it is not the loading. A part time employee's hours are guaranteed to be provided and paid. A casual's are not guaranteed at all. Everything else follows from that sentence, which is lifted from clause 10.4 of the Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (MA000119).
Here are the four ways you can put a person on a shift in an Australian venue, with what each one actually commits you to. These are categories, not products, and three of the four are in most venues already.
| Engagement | What you pay | What you commit to | Shift limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casual | Award rate plus 25% loading, clause 11.1 | Nothing beyond the shift you offer. No guaranteed hours, no paid leave, no notice | At least 2 consecutive hours each attendance; at most 12 hours a day |
| Part time | Award rate, no loading | Guaranteed hours in writing, provided and paid, changeable only with written consent. Pro rata leave | At least 3 and at most 11.5 hours a day; 8 to 38 hours a week; 2 days off a week |
| Full time | Award rate, no loading | 38 ordinary hours a week and the full leave entitlements | Same daily limits as part time |
| Agency or labour hire | An hourly charge rate set by the supplier | Nothing employment related. You are buying a service | Whatever the supplier's terms say |
The honest headline: casual is not the cheap option and part time is not the expensive one. They cost differently in different weeks, and which is cheaper depends on how predictable your trade actually is.
Part time has a band and casual does not. Clause 10.2 defines a part time employee as someone engaged to work at least 8 and fewer than 38 ordinary hours a week, or that average over a roster cycle, with reasonably predictable hours. Under 8 hours a week is not part time under this award, which surprises operators who have someone doing one short Saturday shift and calling them part time.
A casual has no weekly band. Clause 11.2 caps a casual at 12 hours a day or shift and 38 hours a week, or that average over a roster cycle of no more than 4 weeks, and sets no floor.
The daily rules differ too, and this is the one that bites on a quiet Tuesday. A part timer cannot be rostered for fewer than 3 hours or more than 11.5 in a day, and must have 2 days off each week. A casual must be engaged and paid for at least 2 consecutive hours every time they attend. Our page on minimum shift length for hospitality staff has the rostering consequences of those floors in both Australia and New Zealand.
25% on every hour worked, under clause 11.1, in place of annual leave, paid personal and carer's leave, notice and redundancy. On the MA000119 Level 2 adult rate of A$27.08 an hour effective 1 July 2026, from the Fair Work pay guide published 24 June 2026, that is A$33.85 an hour against A$27.08, a difference of A$6.77.
Across a 20 hour week that is A$135.40, about A$7,000 a year. Which sounds decisive until you run it the other way. A part timer on 20 guaranteed hours is owed 20 hours whether or not trade turns up. Four weeks of annual leave, ten days of personal leave pro rata and the notice period all sit on top. If you cancel their Tuesday because it rained, you still owe the guaranteed hours; cancel a casual's Tuesday and you owe nothing. The loading is the price of that flexibility, and it is priced about right. Our casual loading page works the full hourly comparison.
Three clauses in MA000119 do more to decide this question than the loading does, and they almost never appear in a comparison article.
Guaranteed hours can only change with written consent. Clause 10.5. Not notice, not consultation: the employee's written agreement. You and the employee agree the guaranteed hours and the days and times they are available at engagement, in writing, under clause 10.4. Changing that agreement later is a negotiation, not a management decision. A venue that hires part timers onto generous guaranteed hours in a good summer cannot quietly trim them in winter.
Overtime starts above rostered hours, not just above 38. Clause 10.13(b) requires the overtime rate for time worked above 38 hours a week, above the daily maximum, or above the employee's rostered hours. So a part timer rostered 6 hours who stays for the eighth is on overtime at the sixth, at 150% for the first 2 hours, even though they are nowhere near 38 for the week. This is the single most common accidental underpayment in part time hospitality rostering, and it is invisible if you only watch the weekly total.
Regular extra hours become permanent on request. Clauses 10.8 to 10.10. Where a part timer has regularly worked above their guaranteed hours for at least 12 months, they can request in writing that the guaranteed hours be increased, and you may only refuse on reasonable business grounds, in writing. If you have been running someone at 30 hours against guaranteed 15 for a year, that is now a standing request waiting to be made.
Clauses 10.11 and 10.12 run the other way for the employee: a genuine and ongoing change in their personal circumstances lets them alter their availability on 14 days' written notice, and if you cannot reasonably accommodate it, the guaranteed hours cease and a new set has to be agreed.
Clause 11.4 says a casual must be paid at the end of each engagement unless the employer and the employee have agreed that the pay period is weekly or fortnightly. Most venues pay casuals fortnightly with everyone else and have never recorded that agreement anywhere. It is a one line fix at engagement and nobody does it.
And casual conversion has left the award. Clause 11.6 was substituted on 27 August 2024 and now says only that the pathway for an employee to change from casual to full time or part time is in the National Employment Standards, pointing at sections 66A to 66MA of the Fair Work Act 2009. So if you are looking for the conversion rules in the award, that is why you cannot find them. They are not there any more.
By pattern of trade, not by preference.
Four steps, cheapest first.
If none of that resolves it, the Fair Work Pay and Conditions Tool answers it for your exact circumstances. Clause numbering changes between award variations, an enterprise agreement can displace the award entirely, and this page is a description of the published award text as at 7 October 2026 rather than advice about your venue.
An owner operated venue with no employees, and a venue entirely covered by an enterprise agreement that sets its own engagement terms. In both cases the clauses above are background reading.
There is a fifth way to cover a job, and for one job it beats all four above. Nobody should be paid any of these rates to stand next to a ringing phone.
Skai Solutions answers on the first ring, during service and after close, takes the booking and sends it to the system you already use. The comparison is the honest one: a casual at A$33.85 an hour to cover the phone through a four hour dinner service is A$135.40 a night before penalties, and on a Sunday the award rate climbs again. Setup takes five days.
If your phone mostly carries suppliers and the occasional wrong number, a basic message taking plan is the right buy and it is not us. If it carries bookings while every pair of hands is on the floor, read the cheapest way to answer a restaurant phone and judge it against what a missed Saturday costs.
What is the main difference between casual and part time in hospitality?
A part time employee's hours are guaranteed to be provided and paid under clause 10.4 of the Restaurant Industry Award, and can only be changed with their written consent. A casual has no guaranteed hours at all and is paid a 25% loading instead of annual leave, paid personal and carer's leave, notice and redundancy.
How many hours is part time in hospitality?
At least 8 and fewer than 38 ordinary hours a week, or that average over a roster cycle, with reasonably predictable hours, under clause 10.2 of MA000119. Under 8 hours a week is not part time under that award.
What is the minimum shift for a part time employee?
3 hours. Clause 10.7 says a part time employee must not be rostered for fewer than 3 hours or more than 11.5 hours in a day, and must have 2 days off each week. A casual's floor is different: at least 2 consecutive hours each time they attend.
Is casual cheaper than part time?
Not reliably. The 25% loading makes a casual hour dearer, but a part timer's guaranteed hours must be paid whether or not trade arrives, and pro rata leave and notice sit on top. Casual is cheaper where the hours genuinely move week to week and dearer where the same person works the same shifts anyway.
When does a part time employee get overtime?
Above 38 hours a week, above the daily maximum, or above their rostered hours, under clause 10.13(b). The third one catches most venues: a part timer rostered 6 hours who works 8 is on overtime from the sixth hour, even though the week is nowhere near 38.
Where are the casual conversion rules in the Restaurant Award?
They are no longer in it. Clause 11.6 was substituted on 27 August 2024 and now only points at the National Employment Standards, sections 66A to 66MA of the Fair Work Act 2009, for the pathway from casual to full time or part time employment.