Casual Academics

Work Hours

As a casual academic:

1. your hours of work will vary from week to week, at the sole discretion of the University and otherwise in line with course needs and requirements as identified by you in consultation with the relevant authorised officer for your School, Centre or Organisational Unit 
2. there is no guarantee or expectation that you will have regular or systematic work or be offered ongoing employment; and
3. you will be engaged on days and during hours dictated by the operational needs of the University and by agreement.

In determining your days and hours of work, the University can elect whether and when to offer work to you, and you can elect to accept or reject those offers to work. 
    
Given the nature of casual academic employment, it is expected that you will properly and appropriately manage your time and workload during the semester to ensure that you do not exceed the University’s reasonable performance expectations.
    
In the event you are unable to complete your duties within the agreed hours of work and need to undertake additional hours of work in order to complete your duties, you must obtain written approval from your Supervisor  before performing any additional hours. This will give the University the opportunity to reallocate workloads as required before additional work is approved and undertaken. 
    
Any approved additional hours will be paid in accordance with the Enterprise Agreement.
 

Schedule of Hours 

Throughout the semester casual academics will be advised of the activities allocated them to undertake and the associated engagement period/s. These details will be included in the Teaching Activity Schedule, located in the Casual Academic Hire and Payment System (CAHP). Please refer to the Teaching Activity Schedule Guide to understand how to login to the CAHP system and check your Teaching Activity Schedule.  Other activities may be directed by the Supervisor/Course Coordinator or nominated School contact, if and as required from time to time. 

Please note the preferred browser for the CAHP system is Mozilla Firefox.

Casual academics may also be provided with guidelines on what tasks they will need to complete and the expected timeframe for completion. It is important that casual academics check their Teaching Activity Schedule in the CAHP System and seek clarification if there are any activities allocated to them where they are not sure on the duties. 

Fortnightly CAHP system log-in needed to review / enter and confirm hours

Each fortnight, casual academics will receive a reminder email to review their teaching activities, adjust their timesheet (as required) and confirm their hours in the CAHP System

Casual academics will be able to access the CAHP System during the editing period from Thursday, 6:00pm (pay weeks) to Monday, 5:00pm (non-pay weeks). Casual academics will also have the ability to review, adjust, and confirm hours from previous pay periods required.

If casual academics have not confirmed their hours via the CAHP System, HR will be unable to process their pay in the relevant fortnightly pay period.

No adjustment required? 

Once you have checked/adjusted your timesheet as required, you will need to confirm your hours in the CAHP System. To do this, click on the ‘Confirm All’ button during the editing period noted above.

Adjustments required?

In the event a casual academic is unable to complete their duties within the agreed hours of work and needs to undertake additional hours of work in order to complete their duties, the casual academic is directed to raise this with the relevant authorised officer for their School, Centre or Organisational Unit, and seek their written approval before performing any additional hours.  This will also give the University the opportunity to reallocate workloads as required before additional work is undertaken.  Casual academics will not be compensated for working any additional hours unless such approval is first obtained and provided to them in writing.  

Any approved additional hours will be paid in accordance with the Enterprise Agreement.

Where a casual academic has worked additional pre-approved hours, or has been unable to undertake work due to an unplanned absence, they will be required to amend their timesheet within the CAHP system accordingly. 

If a casual academic amends their timesheet to reflect changes in the hours worked, staff in their organisational unit will then receive a notification to promptly approve the adjustment.

Approvals 

It is a requirement for casual academics to track their Teaching Activity Schedule against the hours they complete each fortnight.  Where prior written approval of additional hours is obtained and the hours undertaken, the casual academic must enter a timesheet in the CAHP System for the fortnight that the hours were completed in order to receive payment for the additional hours.  

Timesheets are available for editing from Thursday, 6:00pm (pay weeks) of the pay period and must be submitted by 5:00pm on the following Monday (non-pay week). To find out more about pay periods and their dates, refer to the Salary and Pay Deadlines for CAHP Payments.

Please see this helpful guide on how to login to the CAHP System and submit a timesheet.  

Mandatory Training 

Casual academics are required to complete online mandatory training modules in Workday. These include:

o    Health, Safety and Wellness Induction 
o    Annual Fire Safety Awareness 
o    Staff Standards of Conduct 
o    Appropriate Workplace Behaviour
o    Casual Academic Employment Course

The 30-minute online Casual Academic Employment course is to provide casual academics with the fundamentals about being a casual academic at the University of Queensland.

If you are not scheduled to work in the current semester, please disregard any training Workday Notifications you may receive.

Payment for mandatory training

Payment for completion of the above mandatory training modules completed by casual academics will be administered directly by Human Resources once completion of the course/s has occurred and the quiz/es passed. Casual academics can expect to receive payment in line with the Casual Academic Pay Timetable once they have successfully confirmed their hours for completion of the above courses in the CAHP system. The mandatory courses will be displayed against the following course codes:

You will be paid for the estimated time associated for the course.  You therefore do not need to claim payment for completion of the above mandatory training. 

Please note, any locally mandated training in addition to the five modules identified above will not be included in the HR administered payment process. Casual academics are required to enter a timesheet in the Casual Academic Hire and Pay System (CAHP) for other local mandatory training completed by selecting ‘mandatory training’ or ‘online mandatory training’. Payment for local mandatory training should reflect the time spent to complete the training.  Payment will only be made for those courses that have been identified as mandatory for casual academics by the local area.

Mandatory training should only be undertaken by casual academics who have work scheduled in the CAHP System.

Please refer to the Salary and Pay Deadlines for CAHP Payments for pay period information and timesheet submission deadlines.  Please see this helpful guide on how to login to the CAHP System and submit a timesheet.
  

Tutorials 

If casual academics are assisting with a scheduled tutorial, their agreed hours will be as shown in their Teaching Activity Schedule in the CAHP system for the relevant fortnight.  If it is their first tutorial they will be scheduled on for a normal tutorial (1 hour of delivery and 2 hours of associated work time). 

If it is your second or subsequent tutorial, they will be scheduled on for a repeat tutorial (1 hour of delivery and 1 hour of associated work time), provided that the tutorial applies to a tutorial in the same subject matter within a period of 7 days. 

Associated Work Time

The relevant School will advise casual academics on what is required from during the associated work time as part of the tutorial. This could include preparation for a tutorial e.g attending a lecture (where relevant), reviewing material, reading prescribed texts relevant to the course, marking (under certain circumstances) and student consultation. 

Marking 

If casual academics are engaged to undertake marking, they may be scheduled in CAHP for the hours required. The relevant School may provide casual academics with a guide around expected hours based on certain volumes of activities e.g. number of assignments to mark. If casual academics exceed the hours that the School has allocated as a guide, they should not perform any additional hours, unless they have written approval from the Course Coordinator or nominated School contact to work additional hours. Any approved additional hours should be recorded in the CAHP system via a timesheet. The majority of marking activities are not scheduled but are entered on a timesheet by the casual academic after the work is completed.

Other Required Academic Activities 

Other Required Academic Activities include other work required to be performed by a casual academic, as required and directed by the Course Coordinator or nominated School contact. These duties might include, but are not limited to, demonstrations, clinical sessions, development of teaching and subject materials, student consultation, attendance at meetings, induction sessions, training, or any other duties as directed. 

Direction of Duties 

It is important that casual academics are clear on the duties and responsibilities required of them in order to undertake the role as a casual academic. These duties need to be clearly defined and scheduled. If you need further clarity, please contact your Course Coordinator or nominated School contact. 

PhD Qualification

If a casual academic possesses a PhD or equivalent, they will be entitled to be paid at a higher rate for all the tasks being performed that have a specific pay code associated with holding a PhD or equivalent. They must submit evidence of their PhD qualification in Workday (Update my Worker Personal Data Guide). 

Payment Rate

Casual academics are paid the appropriate hourly rate for the work/activity undertaken in accordance with, and in any event not less than, the rate set in The University of Queensland Enterprise Agreement 2021-2026 (Enterprise Agreement) or any future agreement that replaces it.  
 
The hourly rate includes payment of the 25% casual loading which is paid in compensation for any entitlements that casual academics are not eligible to receive, including paid annual leave, paid personal/carer’s leave, paid compassionate leave, paid public holidays, penalties, notice of termination and redundancy pay and any other entitlements as prescribed by the Enterprise Agreement.

The hourly rate compensates casual academics for all work performed, including but not limited to any overtime and allowances and any other entitlement that may be due to them under the Enterprise Agreement.  In the event of there being any claim for underpayment under the Enterprise Agreement, the University may set off any overpayment made to the casual academic whether that amount is made before or after any underpayment.

The offset is effective over the period of a semester and will allow the University to offset from one payroll period against any other payroll period in a semester period.  For the sake of clarity, a semester period includes any work undertaken on a casual basis outside of the semester teaching weeks and includes any authorised work completed during or after examination periods, including marking of semester assessments.

For further information please refer to the Casual academic pay scales. 

Payment Information

A casual academic’s employment may involve more than one position or level/type of work. As such, the salary rate will reflect the relevant activity being undertaken.

Casual academics are expected to view their approved teaching activity schedule online through the Casual Academic Hire and Payment System (CAHP) each fortnight. This schedule will advise casual academics of the activities they are scheduled to undertake for their casual academic appointment and the payment level attached to the activity. The teaching activity schedule will be updated throughout the casual engagement.

Casual academics are paid a fortnight in arrears for the hours of work they have confirmed in the CAHP System. They will receive payment for the work they have done (including any adjustments that are approved prior to the deadline) in the fortnight after the work has been performed.  Please refer to the Pay Timetable for further information under ‘Helpful Links’.

For further information please refer to the Casual academic pay scales.
 

Contacts 

There are a number of teams within the relevant School and HR who are available to assist casual academics throughout their employment. 

The first point of contact will be the School contacts who may have already communicated with you.  If you are wanting to know your main contact within the School please contact the AskHR Team on (07) 3365 2623 or askhr@uq.edu.au   

The AskHR Team is available 9:00am-5:00pm Monday to Friday to answer any questions you may have. The team may need to refer your enquiry to other support teams, such as the CAHP Support Team, HR Client Partnering, or the Wage Compliance Team where applicable. 

If you feel you have raised any wage related enquiries to your local School contact that have not been resolved satisfactorily, you are able to email wage.compliance@uq.edu.au directly and a team member will be in contact with you.

Frequently Asked Questions