Employment Contract Template (Part-Time)

Part-time is not "casual with fewer hours"

Part-time employees are permanent staff who work fewer than full-time ordinary hours. They get the same entitlements as full-timers — annual leave, personal leave, notice, redundancy — calculated pro-rata. What makes a part-time contract different is that the hours themselves are a contractual promise: a guaranteed number of hours, usually on an agreed pattern. If you want flexibility to roster someone up and down week to week with no commitment, that's casual employment and a different contract entirely.

Most Modern Awards add their own part-time rules on top — many require the days, start and finish times to be agreed in writing, and treat hours worked outside that agreement as overtime. Check your award's part-time provisions before finalising the contract; the Fair Work Ombudsman publishes them for every award.

What the template must contain

1. Parties, position and employment type

Legal employing entity with ABN, the employee's details, position title and reporting line — and a clear statement that the employment is permanent part-time.

2. Guaranteed hours and the agreed pattern

The heart of the document. Record the guaranteed weekly (or fortnightly) hours and, where your award requires it, the specific days and times. Vague wording like "approximately 20 hours as required" defeats the purpose and can breach the award.

3. Varying the pattern

Include a clause requiring any permanent change to hours or pattern to be agreed in writing by both parties. Most awards insist on this, and it protects you both — a text message trail is not a variation record.

4. Additional hours and overtime

Spell out how extra hours are treated. Under many awards, hours beyond the agreed pattern attract overtime rates even though the employee is below full-time hours — one of the most common and expensive part-time payroll mistakes. Defer the actual rates to your award's current pay guide.

5. Remuneration and superannuation

Hourly rate or pro-rata salary, pay cycle, award classification, and superannuation paid at the ATO's current guarantee rate. State the full-time equivalent salary if you use one, so pro-rata maths is transparent.

6. Pro-rata leave and NES entitlements

Reference the NES and note that leave accrues proportionately to hours worked. Public holidays deserve a sentence too: a part-timer is generally entitled to the day off with pay only when the holiday falls on a day they would ordinarily work.

7. Probation, notice, termination and standard protections

Probation period, notice both ways at or above NES minimums, confidentiality, IP assignment, and the policies-are-not-contractual clause.

How to use it

• Agree the pattern before drafting — the conversation about days and times should happen in the interview, not after signing.
• Send the contract before the start date and file the signed copy with the rest of the new-starter paperwork.
• Diarise a check whenever hours drift. If someone has quietly worked extra regular hours for months, the contract and the payroll settings both need updating — see how we think about the people function for keeping this on rhythm.
• Recheck the award each year after the annual wage review, and confirm the classification still fits the role.

Watch-outs

• Rostering a part-timer like a casual — flexible hours with no written variations — while paying no casual loading. That's the worst of both worlds legally.
• Forgetting that leave accruals, redundancy and notice all scale with hours; payroll software needs the correct fraction from day one.
• Assuming one part-time contract fits every award; hospitality, retail and clerical awards each handle part-time hours differently.

This is general information rather than advice on your situation — part-time award provisions vary enough that a quick review by a workplace relations adviser is money well spent for your first few hires.