JobKeeper enabling stand down directions and long service leave entitlements

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To be entitled to long service leave under the Long Service Leave Act 1958, an employee’s employment with their employer must be continuous. The amount of long service leave is determined by the employee’s period of continuous employment. 

Under the Long Service Leave Act, an employee must be paid ‘ordinary pay’ for a period of long service leave or for untaken long service leave on termination of employment. Ordinary pay is remuneration for an employee’s ‘normal weekly number of hours of work’ calculated on their ordinary time rate of pay. If an employee’s normal weekly number of hours of work have varied during their period of employment, their normal weekly number of hours is the average weekly number of hours worked by the employee during their period of employment.

An employee’s period of continuous employment and their ‘ordinary pay’ for long service leave may be impacted if the employee was issued with a JobKeeper enabling stand down direction.

Please note: the information on this page is not relevant to casual employees whose long service leave entitlements under the WA Long Service Leave Act fully accrued (became due) on or after 20 June 2022. For information about how continuous employment is calculated for casual employees whose long service leave entitlements fully accrued after 20 June 2022, please visit the Long Service Leave – Casual and Seasonal Employees page. 

National system employees 

For national system employees, if a JobKeeper enabling direction was issued which resulted in an employee being completely stood down for a period (that is, they did not work any hours), then that period does not count towards the employee’s period of employment for accruing long service leave, but did not break the employee’s continuous employment.

If a JobKeeper enabling direction was issued which reduced a national system employee’s hours of work for a period, but they were not stood down entirely, then that period will count towards the employee’s period of continuous employment for accruing long service leave. However, the employee’s reduced working hours will impact the amount of the employee’s ‘ordinary pay’ for long service leave to be taken or paid out in the future. That is, the employee’s reduced working hours for the period of any JobKeeper enabling stand down direction will need to be taken into account when calculating the normal weekly number of hours worked by the employee during their period of employment, for the purposes of calculating ‘ordinary pay’ for long service leave.

State system employees

The effect of a JobKeeper enabling stand down direction on an employee’s long service leave entitlements will depend on whether a WA Award applies, and if so, the nature of any long service leave provisions in that award.

Award free employees

For award free employees, if a JobKeeper enabling direction was issued which resulted in an employee being completely stood down for a period (that is, they did not work any hours), then that period does not count towards the employee’s period of employment for accruing long service leave, but did not break the employee’s continuous employment.

If a JobKeeper enabling direction was issued which reduced the employee’s hours of work for a period, but they were not stood down entirely, then that period does count towards the employee’s period of continuous employment for accruing long service leave. However, the employee’s reduced working hours will impact the amount of the employee’s ‘ordinary pay’ for long service leave to be taken or paid out in the future. That is, the employee’s reduced working hours for the period of any JobKeeper enabling stand down direction will need to be taken into account when calculating the normal weekly number of hours worked by the employee during their period of employment, for the purposes of calculating ‘ordinary pay’ for long service leave.

WA award employees

For private sector WA award employees, the effect of a JobKeeper enabling stand down direction on long service leave entitlements depends on the provisions of the relevant WA award.

WA awards providing for long service leave

If the applicable WA award contains a long service leave clause which specifies that an employee is entitled to long service leave, whether in accordance with the Long Service Leave Act, the (now repealed) Long Service Leave General Order, or some other arrangement, then the employee accrues long service leave entitlements based on their usual hours and days of work, as if the JobKeeper enabling stand down direction had not been given.

This means that if a JobKeeper enabling direction was issued which reduced the employee’s working hours for a period (including where an employee was completely stood down and did not work any hours), then that period will count towards the employee’s period of continuous employment for accruing long service leave, and will not impact the amount of the employee’s ‘ordinary pay’ for long service leave to be taken or paid out in the future.

The employee’s reduced working hours for the period of any JobKeeper enabling stand down direction are not to be included in the calculation of the normal weekly number of hours worked by the employee during their period of employment, for the purposes of calculating ‘ordinary pay’ for long service leave. Instead, the calculation should be based on the employee’s usual hours and days of work, as if the JobKeeper enabling stand down direction had not been given.

WA awards which do not provide for long service leave

If the WA award does not contain a long service leave clause which specifies that an employee is entitled to long service leave, then the employee’s long service leave entitlements will be impacted by a JobKeeper enabling stand down direction.

If a JobKeeper enabling direction was issued which resulted in the employee being completely stood down for a period (that is, they did not work any hours), then that period will not count towards the employee’s period of employment for accruing long service leave, but will not break the employee’s continuous employment.

If a JobKeeper enabling direction was issued which reduced the employee’s hours of work for a period, but they were not stood down entirely, then that period counts towards the employee’s period of continuous employment for accruing long service leave. However, the employee’s reduced working hours will impact the amount of the employee’s ‘ordinary pay’ for long service leave to be taken or paid out in the future. That is, the employee’s reduced working hours for the period of any JobKeeper enabling stand down direction will need to be taken into account when calculating the normal weekly number of hours worked by the employee during their period of employment, for the purposes of calculating ‘ordinary pay’ for long service leave.

All WA awards are available on the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission website at www.wairc.wa.gov.au or you can contact Wageline on 1300 655 266 for award specific information.

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