Long service leave entitlements

Long service leave (LSL) is an entitlement to an extended period of paid leave after a specified minimum period of service with an employer.

LSL is mainly regulated by state and territory legislation. Specific federal legislation exists providing LSL entitlements for Commonwealth public servants.

The National Employment Standards (NES) contain some minimal provisions relating to LSL (Pt 2-2, Div 9, Fair Work 2009 Act (Cth) (FW Act)), which preserve the operation of LSL entitlements applicable to employees under awards and agreements prior to 1 January 2010.

Modern awards do not contain provisions relating to LSL. However LSL provisions may be included in enterprise agreements made under the FW Act as long as those provisions do not derogate from an employee’s entitlements under applicable state or territory legislation.

Some Australian states and territories have legislation to provide employees in security, community services, building and construction, coal mining and contract cleaning with access to portable long service leave entitlements. This means that an employee will keep their long service leave entitlement even if they work for more than one employer.

See Long service leave entitlements.

Long service leave comparative table

Varied LSL provisions apply in each of the states and territories.

Due to the disparate entitlements to long service leave throughout Australia, this situation is often difficult for businesses to manage across the various jurisdictions. Cross-jurisdiction employers will need to maintain different long service leave standards depending upon which state or territory an employee is employed.

We have provided a comparative long service leave table which assists in this process.

See Long service leave comparative table.