Long service leave

If there is no entitlement to long service leave under the Federal jurisdiction, an employee may have an entitlement in accordance with the information below.

What is long service leave?

Long service leave is a period of paid leave granted to an employee in recognition of a long period of service to an employer. Entitlements for long service leave are provided for in the Industrial Relations Act 1999.

Long service leave eligibility

The Act provides that all employees in Queensland are entitled to long service leave, subject to certain conditions.

Casuals, regular part-time employees and seasonal employees have specific entitlements to long service leave.

Long service leave entitlements and continuous service

As from 3 June 2001 the entitlement to long service leave is 8.6667 weeks on full pay after each period of 10 years continuous service.

Comparison with previous entitlements:

• Service prior to 3 June 2001 accumulated an entitlement of 13 weeks for 15 years service
• Service prior to 11 May 1964 accumulated an entitlement of 13 weeks for 20 years service

After an employee has completed their first 10 years continuous service, they are entitled to take any further long service leave accumulated only after another five years continuous service (i.e. after 15 years continuous service).

Comparison with previous entitlements:

• employees received their first leave entitlement after 15 years service and waited a further 5 years [i.e. 20 years service] before accumulating a further leave entitlement.

Long service leave entitlements accumulated for such periods but which have not been taken are payable on termination.

Continuous service

Continuous service refers to paid working time and paid leave. Employment is the total period engaged and can include unpaid leave. The long service leave entitlement is based on continuous service with the same employer including instances where the Act states that an employee's continuity of service is:

• taken to be with the same employer or
• not broken in certain circumstances.

Portable long service leave

In addition to the long service leave provisions under the industrial relations legislation, portable long service leave is available to building and construction industry employees (apprentices, trainees, casuals and full-time workers) and contract cleaning industry employees. This enables employees to work for many employers and gain their long service leave benefit from the Portable Long Service Leave Scheme. For further information on both these industry schemes contact QLeave toll free on telephone 1800 803 491.

Building and construction industry

Portable Long Service Leave provides long service leave entitlements to workers in the building and construction industry. As the building and construction industry is project driven, it would be impossible for most workers to accrue enough service with one employer to be eligible for long service leave.

Eligible workers who are registered with QLeave receive 1 credit for every day they work to a total of 220 credits per year. After 10 years work or 2,200 credits are recorded, workers will be entitled 8.67 weeks of paid long service leave. This also applies for apprentices and trainees.

Contract cleaning industry

Under the Contract Cleaning Industry (Portable Long Service Leave) Act 2005, effective from 1 July 2005, workers in the contract cleaning industry are eligible to portable long service leave entitlements.

Employees in the contract cleaning industry rarely work for one employer long enough to be able to claim paid long service leave. Portable long service leave means workers will get service credits for work in the industry no matter how many employers they work for or projects they work on. These credits are recorded and when workers have built up enough credits, they will be entitled to paid long service leave.

Employees employed as at 3 June 2001 - phasing in entitlements

For those employees in employment as at 3 June 2001, the amendments provide for the 'phasing in' of the new entitlements. Because of the reduction in time to become entitled to long service leave, the Act provides that only two-thirds of an employee's continuous service completed before 3 June 2001 counts as continuous service for the purposes of working out when long service leave may be taken. As a result, the date upon which long service leave becomes due is affected.

More on how to calculate  long service leave.

Long service leave entitlements for shorter periods of service

As from 3 June 2001, employees are entitled to receive proportionate payment of long service leave on termination of employment after completing 7 years continuous service. This payment is often called pro rata long service leave.

Comparison with previous entitlements:

• Employees became entitled to payment of pro rata long service leave on termination of employment after 10 years service.

However, employees who have completed 7 but less than 10 years continuous service are entitled to pro rata long service leave only if:

• The employee's service is terminated by their death
• The employee terminates their service because of their illness or incapacity or because of a domestic or other pressing necessity
• The employer dismisses the employee for a reason other than the employee's conduct, capacity or performance; or
• The employer unfairly dismisses the employee.

For an employee who has 10 years continuous service or more, the payment of pro rata long service leave on termination of employment is not subject to the above listed criteria.

More how to calculate pro rata long service leave.

Casual employees entitlement to long service leave

Prior to 23 June 1990, casual employees only gained an entitlement to long service leave in certain exceptional circumstances. As from 23 June 1990, an employee who is regularly employed by the same employer for at least 32 hours in each consecutive period of four weeks has an entitlement to long service leave.

On 30 March 1994, the legislation was amended so that all continuous service after that date is taken into account in calculating long service leave entitlements. However, the continuous service ends if the employment is broken by more than 3 months between the end of 1 employment contract and the start of the next employment contract.
In the case of casual employees who qualified for long service leave in accordance with any previous legislation, each period is totalled and taken into account.
The casual entitlement to long service leave is calculated as the number of hours for the complete period of employment worked/52 x 8.6667/10.