# Long service leave for national-system employers

Under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) as it stands for FY2025-26, long service leave is **not** set by a single national formula that applies uniformly to every employee of a national-system employer.

## Which law actually governs

For the great majority of employees, long service leave continues to be governed by the **state or territory** long service leave statute that applies to the place where the employee works (or, in some cases, where the employer’s relevant establishment is located). The Fair Work Act largely leaves these State and Territory schemes intact; it does not replace them with a single Commonwealth long-service-leave standard.

Consequently:

- There is **no** uniform national figure (for example, “X weeks after Y years”) that applies the same way everywhere in Australia.
- The precise entitlement—qualifying period, accrual rate, payment rules, cashing-out options, continuity of service rules, etc.—is determined by the legislation of the relevant State or Territory.
- An employee performing the same work for the same national-system employer can therefore have a different long-service-leave entitlement simply because they are located in a different jurisdiction.

## Practical consequence

To work out any particular employee’s long service leave entitlement you must identify the applicable State or Territory law by reference to the employee’s location and then apply that jurisdiction’s rules. No single national number can be substituted for that location-specific inquiry.