Long service leave
An employee gets long service leave after a long period of working for the same employer.
Most employees' entitlement to long service leave comes from long service leave laws in each state or territory. These laws set out:
- how long an employee has to be working to get long service leave (eg. after 7 years)
- how much long service leave the employee gets.
In some states and territories long serving casuals are eligible for long service leave.
To find out about long service leave entitlements, contact the long service leave agency in your state or territory:
Long service leave in pre-modern awards and agreements
The state and territory long service leave laws don't apply when there are long service leave entitlements in:
In these cases the long service leave entitlement comes from the pre-modern award or registered agreement, which will set out:
- how long an employee has to be working to get long service leave (eg. after 7 years)
- how much long service leave the employee gets.
Example: Long service leave in a pre-modern award
Real Meats Butchers has a number of shops throughout Melbourne, Victoria, and is covered by the Meat Award. Lesley has been working part-time for 12 years.
There was a clause covering long service leave under Lesley’s federal pre-modern award. This means that Lesley's long service leave entitlement comes from her federal pre-modern award, not the Victorian long service leave legislation.
To find long service leave entitlements in a federal pre-modern award:
- use Award Finder
if you know the award or
- call us for help finding out about federal pre-modern awards and long service leave entitlements.
Before you call, please complete our before you call checklist (RTF 63.6KB).
Long service leave when a registered agreement is terminated
When a registered agreement is terminated, employees will receive long service leave entitlements either from:
- the relevant pre-modern award, if it contains long service leave provisions
- the state or territory legislation.
Before a registered agreement is terminated, an employee covered by it can apply to the Fair Work Commission to make an order to continue the long service leave entitlements after the agreement ends.
Portable long service leave
Australian states and territories have legislation to provide employees in the coal mining, cleaning and building and construction industries with access to portable long service leave.
This means an employee keeps their long service leave entitlement even if they work on different projects for one or more employers.
For portable long service leave in the:
Source reference: Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) section 113
Think a mistake might have been made?
Mistakes can happen. The best way to fix them usually starts with talking.
Check out our Help resolving workplace issues section for practical advice on:
- figuring out if a mistake has been made
- talking to your employer or employee about fixing it
- getting help from us if you can't resolve it.
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