Private sector employers and employees
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To be entitled to long service leave under the Long Service Leave Act, an employee’s employment with their employer must be ‘continuous’. The amount of their long service leave is then determined by their period of continuous employment.
There are some paid and unpaid absences that do not break an employee’s continuous employment and count towards long service leave accrual. Some other types of absences do not break an employee’s continuous employment, but do not count towards long service leave accrual.
This page covers how continuous employment was calculated for long service leave entitlements that fully accrued (became due) prior to 20 June 2022.
If an employee has a long service leave entitlement that fully accrued prior to 20 June 2022 the previous provisions in the Long Service Leave Act about absences that count towards the period of continuous employment still apply to that entitlement if the employee takes the long service leave (or receives payment for long service leave on termination) after 20 June 2022.
For example, if an employee accrued an entitlement to long service leave in December 2021 but is yet to take that leave, there is no need for the employer to re-calculate the employee’s long service leave accrual based on the new provisions that are now in place.
For periods of long service leave that were fully accrued prior to 20 June 2022, the following absences counted as part of an employee’s period of continuous employment:
An employee’s period of employment with a previous owner of a business also counted as part of their period of employment with the new owner where there was a transmission of the business.
For periods of long service leave that were fully accrued prior to 20 June 2022, the following absences did not count as part of an employee’s period of continuous employment:
Although these absences did not count as part of an employee’s period of employment for long service leave, they did not break an employee’s continuity of employment.
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