# How long service leave is worked out, and why there is no single national figure

## The key point first

There is **no uniform long service leave (LSL) entitlement that applies the same way everywhere in Australia**. Being a national-system employer under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) does **not** mean a single federal LSL rule governs your employees. For the large majority of employees, the entitlement is set by the **long service leave law of the State or Territory in which the employee works**, and those laws differ. So the answer depends on the employee's location, not on a single national number.

## Why state and territory law governs (not the Fair Work Act)

People often assume that because the employer is a national-system employer, the federal Fair Work Act supplies the LSL entitlement. It generally does not. The position is:

- The National Employment Standards (NES) in the Fair Work Act include long service leave, but they do so largely by **preserving the operation of the applicable State or Territory long service leave laws** for most employees (this is the effect of s 113 of the Fair Work Act). In other words, the NES "long service leave" entitlement is, in practice, a pointer back to the relevant State/Territory Act.
- A genuine federal LSL entitlement under the NES only applies in narrow, residual situations - chiefly where an employee has an entitlement preserved under certain **pre-modern awards** that contained LSL terms (the s 113 "applicable award-derived long service leave terms"). That is the exception, not the rule.
- For the typical employee, there is no LSL term in the modern award or enterprise agreement that displaces the State/Territory Act, so **the State or Territory LSL legislation is what governs**.

The practical consequence: to work out an employee's LSL entitlement, you identify the State or Territory where they work and apply that jurisdiction's LSL Act.

## The eight different regimes

Each State and Territory has its own LSL statute, and they are not aligned. The main differences are (a) how many years of continuous service trigger an entitlement, (b) how much leave accrues, and (c) when (and whether) leave is payable on a pro-rata basis if employment ends before the full qualifying period.

Indicative outline of the eight regimes (always check the current Act/section for the employee's jurisdiction, as figures and conditions vary and are periodically amended):

| Jurisdiction | Governing Act (LSL) | Typical full entitlement at the primary milestone | Common pro-rata-on-termination threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW) | ~2 months (8.667 weeks) after 10 years | After 5 years (in defined circumstances) |
| Victoria | Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic) | ~ entitlement after 7 years; accrual continues | After 7 years |
| Queensland | Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld) | ~8.667 weeks after 10 years | After 7 years |
| Western Australia | Long Service Leave Act 1958 (WA) | ~8.667 weeks after 10 years | After 7 years |
| South Australia | Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA) | ~13 weeks after 10 years | After 7 years |
| Tasmania | Long Service Leave Act 1976 (Tas) | ~8.667 weeks after 10 years | After 7 years |
| Australian Capital Territory | Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT) | ~ entitlement after 7 years | After 7 years |
| Northern Territory | Long Service Leave Act 1981 (NT) | ~13 weeks after 10 years | After 7 years |

(These figures are a guide to illustrate the divergence between jurisdictions, not a substitute for the current statutory text. Some industries - for example construction, contract cleaning, and coal mining - are covered by separate **portable long service leave schemes** that override the general Act, and those have their own rules again.)

The table makes the point: the qualifying period, the amount of leave, and the early-termination/pro-rata rules genuinely differ across the country. Victoria and the ACT, for example, trigger a full entitlement at a different point than NSW; SA and the NT confer more weeks of leave at the 10-year mark than the ~8.667-week jurisdictions. So the same length of service can produce a different LSL outcome depending only on where the person works.

## How the entitlement is actually worked out for one employee

For a given employee, the calculation runs like this:

1. **Identify the governing law.** Determine the State or Territory where the employee works (not where the employer is based). That jurisdiction's LSL Act applies, unless a portable-scheme or a preserved award-derived federal entitlement applies instead.
2. **Measure continuous service.** Add up the period of continuous service with the employer, applying that Act's rules on what counts as continuous (the treatment of unpaid leave, transfers of business, casual/part-time service, and breaks varies by jurisdiction).
3. **Check the threshold.** See whether the employee has reached the qualifying period for a full entitlement (commonly 10 years, but 7 years in some jurisdictions), or, on termination, whether they have reached the pro-rata threshold (commonly 7 years, but 5 years in NSW in defined circumstances).
4. **Apply the accrual rate.** Convert service into weeks of leave using that Act's formula (for example, the common formula yields about 8.667 weeks at 10 years, but SA and the NT use roughly 13 weeks at 10 years).
5. **Value the leave.** Calculate the pay rate for the leave under the Act's definition of "ordinary pay"/"ordinary remuneration" for that jurisdiction (the components included - allowances, averaging of variable earnings, etc. - again differ).

## Bottom line

- LSL for most national-system employees is governed by **State and Territory law**, not by a single Fair Work Act figure (the federal NES essentially preserves the State/Territory entitlement, with only a narrow award-derived exception under s 113).
- There is **no single national LSL entitlement that is the same everywhere**. The number of qualifying years, the weeks of leave, and the early-termination rules vary between the eight jurisdictions.
- To work out a specific employee's entitlement, **start from where that employee works**, apply that jurisdiction's LSL Act (or the relevant portable scheme), and follow its rules on continuous service, qualifying period, accrual, and pay rate.

Because the answer turns on the employee's location, the same length of service can yield different leave in different States and Territories - so any LSL policy that assumes one figure applies uniformly across Australia is incorrect.