**Long service leave for most national-system employees is governed by State and Territory legislation, not by a single uniform federal rule under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).**

The Fair Work Act’s National Employment Standards do not prescribe a national long service leave entitlement that applies identically everywhere. For the great majority of employees of a national-system employer, the applicable long service leave rules are those of the State or Territory in which the employee is employed (or, in some cases, the law that applied to the employment under transitional arrangements).  

Consequently:

- There is **no single figure** (neither a uniform qualifying period nor a uniform quantum of leave) that applies the same way across the whole of Australia.  
- The entitlement is determined by the employee’s location: the relevant State or Territory Long Service Leave Act (or equivalent) sets the continuous-service threshold, the rate of accrual, any pro-rata rights on termination, and related conditions.  
- Those State and Territory schemes differ from one another.  

An employer covered by the Fair Work Act must therefore identify the correct State or Territory law that applies to the particular employee and calculate the entitlement under that law. Awards or enterprise agreements may contain additional or preserved long-service-leave provisions, but they do not create a nationwide uniform statutory entitlement.