Long Service Leave in South Australia: Eligibility, Pro-Rata and Pay

The Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA) gives most SA employees 13 weeks of paid long service leave after 10 years of continuous service, with pro-rata payments from 7 years at 1.3 weeks per completed year in most circumstances.

Who Qualifies for Long Service Leave in South Australia

The Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA) applies to most full-time, part-time and casual employees in South Australia who are not covered by a more generous entitlement under an award, enterprise agreement, or the separate construction industry scheme. Under section 5(1)(a), an employee who completes 10 years of continuous service with the one employer becomes entitled to 13 weeks of paid long service leave, one of the more generous headline entitlements among the state and territory Acts. The Act sits alongside, rather than instead of, any better entitlement a worker has under a modern award or enterprise agreement, so a worker covered by an instrument with more generous terms keeps the benefit of whichever entitlement is higher. Public sector employees in South Australia are generally covered by their own separate leave arrangements rather than the 1987 Act.

How Much Leave Accrues and How It Grows in SA

At 10 years, an SA employee holds 13 weeks of paid long service leave. Unlike jurisdictions that add leave in fixed 5-year blocks, South Australia accrues further leave one year at a time: after the initial 10 years, an additional 1.3 weeks accrues for each completed year of service. An employee at 15 years therefore holds 19.5 weeks, 13 plus 5 lots of 1.3, and an employee at 20 years holds 26 weeks. This continuous, year-by-year accrual is the same rate used to calculate pro-rata payments from 7 years, described below.

Pro-Rata Long Service Leave on Termination in South Australia

From 7 years of continuous service, South Australian employees can receive a pro-rata payment on termination, calculated at 1.3 weeks for each completed year of service. This pro-rata right is excluded under section 5(4) only where the termination results from the worker's own serious or wilful misconduct, or where the worker unlawfully terminates the employment themselves, for example by abandoning it without proper notice. Outside those two exclusions, resignation, redundancy, dismissal without misconduct and other terminations from 7 years onward all attract the pro-rata payment. Once an employee has passed 10 years, section 5(2) confirms that any untaken leave is paid out on termination for any reason.

What Counts as Continuous Service in South Australia

Continuous service generally means unbroken employment with the same employer, but the Act treats certain absences, including some periods of leave, as not breaking continuity, while other breaks can affect the calculation depending on their length and cause. Casual employees can accrue long service leave in South Australia provided their engagement is otherwise regular, and transfers of business between related or successive employers can, in defined circumstances, preserve continuity of service. A period of unpaid leave beyond what the Act recognises, or a genuine gap between separate engagements, can interrupt continuity, so an employee piecing together a service history from multiple stints with the same employer should not assume the earliest start date automatically counts. Because these rules are fact-specific, an employee with a break in their employment history should check their position with SafeWork SA.

How Long Service Leave Pay Is Calculated in South Australia

South Australia has specific averaging rules for employees with variable pay. Where part of an employee's ordinary pay is commission, that component is averaged over the preceding 12 months rather than taken at a single point in time, smoothing out fluctuations. For casual employees, ordinary pay for long service leave purposes is averaged over the preceding 3 years, reflecting the more variable hours casual employees can work. These rules matter for anyone in sales, hospitality or other roles where earnings vary significantly from week to week.

The SA Construction Scheme and How SA Compares

Outside the general Act, South Australia runs a separate portable long service leave scheme for the construction industry under the Construction Industry Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA), letting registered construction workers carry service between different employers in the industry. SA's 13-week entitlement at 10 years is the second most generous headline figure among the states and territories, matched only by the Northern Territory's identical 13 weeks at 10 years, calculated the same way, at 1.3 weeks per year; see Northern Territory long service leave for that comparison. SA's 7-year pro-rata window, with only two narrow exclusions, is more generous than the multi-ground tests used in New South Wales or Queensland; see New South Wales long service leave and Queensland long service leave. General enquiries and claims in South Australia go to SafeWork SA. Related entitlements are covered on the redundancy pay in Australia page, the long service leave calculator, and the Australia employment law hub.

This article provides general information about long service leave in South Australia under the Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA), current as at 19 July 2026. It is not legal advice. Long service leave entitlements depend on individual circumstances, including exact dates of service, breaks in employment and any applicable award, enterprise agreement or employment contract. For advice about a specific entitlement, contact SafeWork SA or a legal practitioner admitted in South Australia.