Long service leave
An employee gets long service leave after a long period of working for the same employer.
On this page:
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 (for example, 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
The state and territory long service leave laws don't apply when there are long service leave entitlements in a federal pre-modern award that would have covered an employer and their employees before 1 January 2010.
In this case the long service leave entitlement comes from the pre-modern award which will set out:
- how long an employee has to be working to get long service leave (for example, 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:
Before you call, please look at our Before you call page.
Portable long service leave
Some Australian states and territories have legislation to provide employees in the security, community services, building and construction, coal mining, and contract cleaning 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 s.113 
Tools and resources
Related information
Help for small business
Find tools, resources and information you might need in our Small business showcase.
Think a mistake might have been made?
Mistakes can happen. The best way to fix them usually starts with talking.
Check out our Fixing a workplace problem 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.
Want to save this information for later?
If you might need to read this information again, save it for later so you can access it quickly and easily.
Page reference No: 1964