# Long Service Leave for a Victorian Employee of a National-System Employer

## Short answer

The employee's long service leave (LSL) is governed by **Victorian State law** - specifically the **Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic)** - administered by the State of Victoria. The relevant **level of government is the State (Victoria)**, not the Commonwealth (federal) government, even though the employer is a national-system employer covered by the federal Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

There is **no single national LSL figure that applies uniformly across Australia**. The entitlement depends on which State or Territory the employee works in, because each jurisdiction sets its own LSL rules (qualifying period and accrual rate).

## Working / reasoning

1. **National-system employment normally means federal law sets the conditions.** Most minimum employment conditions for national-system employees come from the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the National Employment Standards (NES). So the natural assumption is "federal law governs everything."

2. **Long service leave is the deliberate exception.** The NES does not create a substantive, uniform national LSL entitlement. Instead, the Fair Work Act preserves the operation of State and Territory LSL laws. Section 113 of the Fair Work Act provides that, in general, an employee's LSL entitlement is the one that applies under the applicable State or Territory LSL legislation (or a preserved pre-modern award LSL term where one exists). The NES "long service leave" provision is essentially a pointer to that State/Territory law rather than a standalone national figure.

3. **The applicable State/Territory law is the one for where the employee works.** This employee works in **Victoria**, so the governing instrument is the **Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic)**.

4. **What Victorian law provides (for orientation, not a national figure).** Under the Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic), an employee becomes entitled to take LSL after **7 years** of continuous employment, accruing at a rate of **1/60th of the period of continuous employment** (which works out to about 8.667 weeks of leave at 7 years). The Victorian Act also allows LSL to be taken after 7 years and pro-rata on certain terminations. (These figures are Victoria-specific - other States and Territories differ, e.g. the more common pattern elsewhere is an entitlement at 10 years.)

5. **Why there is no uniform national number.** Because LSL is set by each State and Territory's own Act (NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, WA, Tas, ACT, NT each have their own), the qualifying period and accrual rate vary by jurisdiction. Quoting a single Australia-wide LSL figure would be wrong. The correct approach is to identify the employee's work jurisdiction first, then apply that jurisdiction's LSL Act.

## Bottom line

- **Governing law:** Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic).
- **Level of government:** State (Victoria), not the Commonwealth - the federal Fair Work Act expressly preserves State/Territory LSL law (s 113) rather than setting a national figure.
- **No single national figure:** LSL terms differ by State/Territory, so the entitlement must be worked out under Victorian law for this employee.

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*Note on approach:* I identified the apparent tension (national-system employer suggests federal law) and resolved it by recognising that the Fair Work Act's NES preserves State/Territory LSL legislation rather than creating a uniform national entitlement (s 113). I then named the specific work jurisdiction (Victoria), its governing Act (Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic)), and the level of government (State), while noting the Victorian 7-year/1-60th figures purely for orientation and stressing that no single national LSL figure applies. This is a benchmarking hypothetical, not legal advice.