Long Service Leave
Written By
Partner
Australia
I am a partner in our International HR Services Group in Sydney where I advise our clients on the full spectrum of employment and industrial law issues.
Long service leave is an entitlement regulated by each of the states and territories in Australia. It is, effectively, an entitlement to leave as a ‘reward’ for an employee’s long service to a company. The entitlement to long service leave is subject to the applicable legislation in each state or territory.
Below, is a summary of the long service leave entitlement applicable in each Australian state and territory.
| State or Territory | Entitlement |
| New South Wales | 8.67 weeks after 10 years of continuous service |
| Australian Capital Territory |
6.0667 weeks after 7 years of continuous service |
| Victoria | 6.1 weeks after 7 years of continuous service |
| South Australia | 13 weeks after 10 years of continuous service |
| Western Australia | 8.667 weeks after 10 years of continuous service |
| Northern Territory | 13 weeks after 10 years of continuous service |
| Queensland |
8.6667 weeks after 10 years of continuous service |
In some states and territories, long serving casual employees (employees who accept an offer for a job from an employer knowing that there is no firm advance commitment to ongoing work with an agreed pattern of work) are eligible to receive long service leave.
Payment on termination of employment
Depending on the state or territory in which the employee was primarily based during the course of their service, whether or not an employee has first met the necessary service requirement and the reason as to why the employment has terminated, an employee may be entitled to a prorated long service leave payment on termination of their employment.
Locality considerations
Where employees have worked abroad or in other states and territories of Australia during the course of their service, in determining a long service leave entitlement on termination of employment, consideration must be given to where the employee was primarily based and which locality the employment terminates in. There have been recent developments both in Victoria and New South Wales in relation to the entitlement to long service leave where there have been periods of extraterritorial service. We have recently prepared a summary of the recent developments in our ‘Long service leave and extraterritorial service’ article.
Portable long service leave
Some states and territories have schemes that provide workers, in industries such as security, community services, building and construction, coal mining and contract cleaning with access to a portable long service leave scheme, which allows eligible workers to accrue their long service leave benefits / continuous service based on work for different employers or even as contractors.
