Long Service Leave in Australia: Entitlements by State

Long service leave is paid leave for staying a long time with one employer, and in Australia it is set mostly by eight separate state and territory Acts rather than by one national law. Depending on where you work, the full entitlement arrives after 7 or 10 years, ranges from about 6 to 13 weeks, and follows different rules on pro-rata payouts, casual work and cashing out.

This page covers the general long service leave rules for private sector employees across Australia: the federal overlay in section 113 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the main state and territory Acts. It compares them and points to our detailed page for each jurisdiction. It does not cover public sector, local government or Commonwealth employee schemes, and the rules in your award or enterprise agreement may differ. Information last checked against primary sources on 25 October 2026.

Why long service leave is state law, not national law

Long service leave is the one major leave entitlement Australia never moved fully into federal law. The Fair Work Ombudsman says: "Most employees' entitlement to long service leave comes from long service leave laws in each state or territory." That is true even for employees of private companies in the national workplace relations system.

The Fair Work Act 2009 deals with long service leave in section 113, and it carves out only a narrow group. Section 113(1) provides that "If there are applicable award-derived long service leave terms ... in relation to an employee, the employee is entitled to long service leave in accordance with those terms." Award-derived terms are long service leave terms in an award that would have applied to the employee immediately before the National Employment Standards commenced on 1 January 2010.

The note to section 113 explains the rest: "This Act does not exclude State and Territory laws that deal with long service leave, except in relation to employees who are entitled to long service leave under this Division ... and except as provided in subsection 113A(3)." In practice that gives three possible sources for your entitlement:

• The state or territory Act. The default for most private sector employees, whether they are in the national system or a state system.
• A federal pre-modern award (pre-2010). The Fair Work Ombudsman says the state and territory 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."
• Certain pre-2010 agreements and instruments. Under section 113(2), the award-derived terms themselves give way where a pre-2010 workplace agreement or AWA applies, and where certain other pre-2010 instruments, such as pre-reform certified agreements and pre-reform AWAs, apply and expressly deal with long service leave. A small number of employees also have long service leave under multi-state agreement schemes the Fair Work Commission has approved under section 113(4) to (6). If one of these covers you, ask the Fair Work Ombudsman which rules apply.

Enterprise agreements made from 1 January 2010 can also include long service leave terms, and the Fair Work Ombudsman notes these can cover portable long service leave and cashing out. How they interact with the state Act is a separate question. Western Australia's regulator says that where a national system employee is covered by the WA Act, a post-2010 agreement term that is less beneficial than the WA Act gives way to the Act. Other jurisdictions put it differently: the South Australian Act says it does not apply to workers who have a long service leave entitlement under a Fair Work instrument (section 16), and WorkSafe ACT says the ACT Act covers private sector employees not covered by an award or agreement, or in some cases where the award or agreement has no long service leave provisions. If your agreement offers less than the Act, ask your state agency and the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Watch out: a few official pages describe long service leave as simply part of the National Employment Standards for everyone in the national system. Section 113 is narrower than that. Unless a pre-2010 federal award or one of the pre-2010 instruments above applies to you, your state or territory Act is where your entitlement comes from.

Long service leave by state and territory: full entitlement

The table below shows what each Act gives once you reach the full qualifying period with one employer. Week figures are taken from the Acts or the regulators' own guidance; the Victorian figure at 7 years is our arithmetic from the Act's 1/60th rule.

Two jurisdictions express the entitlement in months rather than weeks. The NSW Act gives "2 months" after 10 years and defines a month as 4 1/3 weeks, according to NSW Industrial Relations. The ACT Act accrues "1/5 of a month's leave for each year of service", and WorkSafe ACT's calculation guideline turns that into 0.8667 weeks a year, 6.0667 weeks at 7 years and 13 weeks at 15 years.

Leaving before the full entitlement: pro-rata payouts

This is where the states differ most, and where most online summaries go wrong. Each Act sets a minimum period after which some leave is paid out when employment ends, and most add conditions about why it ended.

The gap between the most generous and least generous rules is large. A worker who resigns for a new job after 8 years is paid out in Western Australia and South Australia (subject to the misconduct and unlawful-termination exceptions), and in Victoria and the ACT where the full entitlement has already arrived. The same resignation after 8 years in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania or the Northern Territory generally pays nothing unless one of the listed reasons applies.

The listed reasons are tested on the facts. NSW Industrial Relations says the qualifying reason must be the "genuine motivating reason" for resigning, though it need not be the only reason. In Victoria, the 7 years is measured to the last day of employment, so a notice period you work counts towards it.

How to work out your own long service leave

The Acts calculate differently, so an estimate has to use your own state or territory formula. Our Australian long service leave calculator does that for each of the eight Acts from your years of service and weekly pay. The steps behind it are the same everywhere:

1. Confirm which rules apply. Check whether a pre-2010 federal award or agreement covers your job. If not, your state or territory Act applies.
2. Count your continuous service with one employer. Include service carried over from a business sale or related company where your state allows it, and check how your state treats unpaid leave and gaps between casual engagements.
3. Apply your state's formula from the tables above.
4. Work out the weekly rate under your state's pay rule (see the next section).
5. Subtract any long service leave already taken.

Here are three illustrations using the formulas in the Acts. The pay figures are made up for the arithmetic; they are not award rates.

Victoria, full-time, 9 years 6 months. Section 6 gives 1/60th of total continuous employment. 9.5 years is 494 weeks, and 494 divided by 60 is 8.2333 weeks. At an ordinary time rate of $35 an hour for 38 normal weekly hours ($1,330 a week), that is about $10,950 if paid out on leaving.

South Australia, 8 years, leaving for another job. Section 5(3) gives 1.3 weeks for each completed year between 7 and 10 years. 8 x 1.3 is 10.4 weeks, payable unless the worker was dismissed for serious and wilful misconduct or unlawfully terminated the employment.

Queensland, casual, 10 years. Business Queensland's formula for casual and regular part-time employees is total ordinary hours worked, divided by 52, multiplied by 8.6667, divided by 10. A casual who worked 10,400 ordinary hours over 10 years gets 10,400 / 52 x 8.6667 / 10, or about 173.3 hours of leave, paid at the loaded casual rate.

For service beyond 10 years, Business Queensland's own example is 12 years of service giving 10.4 weeks (8.6667 plus 1.7333 weeks). Western Australia's regulator uses the same figures for a 12-year redundancy.

What pay rate applies: the overtime trap

Long service leave is paid at ordinary pay, and the definition of ordinary pay is where many workers lose money without noticing. In most jurisdictions overtime does not count, even if you worked it every week for years.

The Victorian rule is often misreported as "the highest of three averages" for everyone. Under section 15 of the Victorian Act, the averages apply only "If an ordinary time rate of pay is not fixed for an employee's work". Most employees on a fixed hourly rate or salary are paid at their ordinary rate on the day leave starts.

Casual and part-time employees

Every jurisdiction's rules can give casual and part-time employees long service leave. Victoria lists full time, part time, casual, seasonal and fixed term work, and South Australia's regulator says most workers are entitled "regardless of if they are full-time, part-time, or casual." The question is never whether casuals are covered, but whether your service has been continuous.

• NSW: continuity is assessed case by case on regularity, time between engagements and the reasons for gaps. Service is broken if the employer terminates and does not re-employ you within 2 months. The entitlement is measured in weeks, not hours, and paid at your ordinary remuneration.
• Victoria: service is deemed continuous if there is no absence of more than 12 weeks between engagements, with exceptions including seasonal work and engagement on a "regular and systematic basis" with a reasonable expectation of re-engagement.
• Queensland: casual service is continuous "even though the employment is broken", unless a gap between contracts runs longer than 3 months (section 103).
• Western Australia: casual and seasonal employees can have continuous employment despite working intermittently or with varying hours, and moving between full-time, part-time and casual does not break it.
• South Australia: a break caused by the employer does not break service if you are re-employed within 2 months, and varying hours are averaged over 3 years.
• Tasmania: an employee regularly working at least 32 hours in each 4-week period is deemed continuously employed.
• Northern Territory: the NT Government says casual employment still accrues long service leave.
• ACT: an interruption does not break service if you return within 2 months, and seasonal interruptions have their own rule.

Changing employers, selling a business and portable schemes

Long service leave normally rewards service with one employer. When you leave, the count with that employer ends, and a new job usually starts a new count. Three things can change that.

Sale or transfer of a business. NSW Industrial Relations says service continues where the new owner carries on "the same business" and you are employed in it, and that "Contracts for the sale of business cannot lawfully exclude a worker's entitlement". Victoria treats service as continuous where the old owner dismisses you and the new owner re-employs you within 12 weeks. The ACT Act has transmission of business and associated company provisions.

Related companies and apprentices. NSW counts a transfer between related companies within 2 months, and both NSW and South Australia count an apprenticeship followed by employment within 12 months.

Working in more than one state. NSW counts work outside the state where the employment has a substantial connection with NSW. Business Queensland says interstate cases are considered on their own merits following Infosys Technologies Limited v Fox [2025] QCA 45. If you have worked across borders, ask the agency in the state you think applies.

Portable schemes. In some industries, service is recorded with a statutory fund rather than the employer, so it moves with you. The table below lists what the schemes themselves state.

The Fair Work Ombudsman's list of portable authorities names only a construction scheme in Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. If you work in cleaning, community services or security in one of those places, check with the state agency rather than assuming you are covered.

Portable schemes sit alongside the general Acts rather than always replacing them. NSW Industrial Relations and Business Queensland both say that where a worker has a direct entitlement under the Act, such as 10 years with one employer, the employer may have to pay the leave directly.

Cashing out long service leave

Whether you can take money instead of leave while still employed depends entirely on your state.

Where cashing out is banned, the ban applies to both sides, and agreeing to it does not make it lawful. Victoria's regulator also says contract terms less favourable than the Act are invalid, and settling for less does not remove the right. If your employment ends, the rules on payment on termination apply instead.

Taking long service leave: notice and timing

In most jurisdictions you and your employer agree on timing, and if you cannot agree the employer can direct you to take it with notice. Western Australia flips that around.

Termination, redundancy, retirement and death

When employment ends, accrued long service leave becomes a payment. The timing rules are strict. NSW Industrial Relations says the employer must pay "immediately from the date the employment ends"; the ACT gives the employer 90 days; and Victoria treats the employee as having started the leave on the last day, with penalties under section 9. In NSW and the ACT, failing to pay is an offence.

Redundancy. In NSW a redundancy pays pro-rata once you have 5 years' continuous service. In Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, redundancy after 7 years fits the employer-termination grounds (the NT Government gives redundancy as its example). In Queensland, dismissal for a reason other than the employee's conduct, capacity or performance is a listed ground from 7 years. In Victoria redundancy pays out only from 7 years, and in the ACT from 5 years.

Retirement. Retirement age is a listed ground in Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT for the years before full entitlement. In NSW, any accrued and untaken leave must be paid on retirement after 10 years.

Death. In NSW and the ACT, death is a pro-rata ground from 5 years. Queensland and Western Australia pay pro-rata on death from 7 years, Victoria pays an employee who was already entitled (from 7 years), South Australia's entitlement from 7 years vests in the estate (section 5(5)), the Northern Territory pays the personal representative, on request, whatever would have been payable had employment otherwise ended on the date of death (section 10(3)), and Tasmania pays the estate from 7 years under section 9 (from 5 years for metalliferous mine workers). Victoria does not pay an estate where the employee died before 7 years, and nor does Tasmania for employees other than mine workers. Every Act directs the payment to the employee's personal representative (the estate).

Serious misconduct. In NSW, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT, dismissal for serious (or serious and wilful) misconduct removes the pro-rata payment before the full entitlement. In WA and the NT, a worker dismissed for serious misconduct after 10 years keeps only fully accrued leave blocks.

Employer insolvency. NSW Industrial Relations says it cannot recover entitlements from an insolvent employer and points to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee administered by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

For the money side of leaving a job, including notice and final pay timing, see our guide to final pay in Australia.

Disputes and where to complain

Start with your employer, in writing, setting out your service dates and the amount you think is owed. If that fails, go to the agency for your state or territory Act. The Fair Work Ombudsman tells readers to "contact the long service leave agency in your state or territory", and handles questions about which regime applies and about award or agreement terms.

Keep your own records. NSW employers must keep long service leave records for 6 years after employment ends, and Queensland employers must keep casual employees' ordinary hours records for the same period, but your payslips and employment dates are the quickest way to prove continuous service.

Related guides

Long service leave sits alongside the other leave entitlements in our Australian employment law guides. To estimate your own entitlement, use the long service leave calculator. For leave you accrue every year, see annual leave in Australia, and for the wider rules on casual work, see casual employee rights in Australia.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much long service leave do I get after 10 years in Australia?

It depends on your state or territory. After 10 years of continuous service with one employer, the Acts give 8.6667 weeks in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, and 13 weeks in South Australia and the Northern Territory (Tasmanian metalliferous mine workers also get 13 weeks). In Victoria the entitlement is 1/60th of total continuous service, which is about 8.6667 weeks at 10 years by arithmetic, and the ACT guideline gives 0.8667 weeks per year, which also comes to about 8.6667 weeks at 10 years.

Do I get long service leave after 7 years?

In Victoria and the ACT you can take long service leave from 7 years, at about 6.0667 weeks. In the other jurisdictions 7 years is the start of a possible pro-rata payment when employment ends, not a right to take leave. Whether you are paid depends on the reason your employment ended: Western Australia and South Australia pay on most terminations, while Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory pay only on listed grounds. NSW pro-rata starts at 5 years, again only on listed grounds until 10 years.

Is long service leave part of the National Employment Standards?

Only in a limited way. Section 113 of the Fair Work Act 2009 gives long service leave under the National Employment Standards to employees covered by applicable award-derived long service leave terms, meaning terms in a federal pre-modern award that would have applied to them before 1 January 2010. For everyone else, the Act does not exclude state and territory long service leave laws, so the state or territory Act applies.

Can casual employees get long service leave?

Yes. The NSW, Victorian, Queensland, Western Australian, South Australian, Tasmanian, Northern Territory and ACT rules all cover casuals who have continuous service with one employer. The difference is how long a gap between engagements can be before service is broken: 12 weeks in Victoria, 3 months in Queensland, and in Tasmania a casual working at least 32 hours in each 4 weeks is deemed continuously employed. Check the rule on your state page.

Can my employer make me take long service leave?

In most jurisdictions yes, with notice. The notice is at least 1 month in NSW, 12 weeks in writing in Victoria, 3 months in writing in Queensland (for at least 4 weeks of leave), and at least 2 months in the Northern Territory. South Australia says the employer should give at least 60 days notice, and the ACT requires 60 days written notice. Tasmania sets no employer notice period: if you cannot agree on timing, WorkSafe Tasmania decides, and cannot require the leave to start sooner than 6 months after its direction. Western Australia is the exception: the WA regulator says an employer cannot direct an employee to take long service leave at a particular time.

Do I lose my long service leave if I change jobs?

Usually the entitlement is with one employer, so starting with a new employer starts a new count. There are important exceptions: service generally carries over when a business is sold and you keep working in it, and workers in construction, and in some states contract cleaning, community services or security, are in portable schemes that record service across employers in the industry.

Is overtime included in long service leave pay?

Generally not. NSW, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT all exclude overtime from ordinary pay for long service leave, and NSW, WA, SA, the NT and the ACT also exclude penalty rates. Western Australia counts regular overtime hours in normal weekly hours, and Tasmania includes shift penalties. Casual loading is included in NSW, Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland. The exact rule is on each state page.

Where do I complain if my long service leave is not paid?

Go to the agency that enforces your state or territory Act: NSW Industrial Relations, Workforce Inspectorate Victoria, the Queensland Office of Industrial Relations, Private Sector Labour Relations at the WA Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety (Wageline), SafeWork SA, WorkSafe Tasmania, the NT Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment, or WorkSafe ACT. If your leave comes from an award or enterprise agreement instead, the Fair Work Ombudsman can help work out which rules apply.