Private sector employers and employees
Telephone: 1300 655 266
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East Perth WA 6892
This page provides information on the provisions of the Long Service Leave Act 1958 (WA). For more information see the main Long Service Leave page.
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 determined by the employee’s period of continuous employment.
There are some paid and unpaid absences or interruptions to an employee’s employment that:
Some other types of absences do not break an employee’s continuous employment, but do not count towards an employee’s period of employment for the purposes of accruing long service leave.
An employee’s employment is also continuous despite a transmission of the business and the associated change of employer.
When an employee resigns, they break their continuous employment and when employment ends, are entitled to be paid out any pro rata or accrued long service leave (see the What is the entitlement when employment ceases? page). If an employee is later re-employed by that same employer, their previous employment will not count towards long service leave accrual and their long service leave accrual will begin from the date of re-employment.
An employee’s employment is continuous despite certain absences or interruptions.
An employee’s continuous employment will not be broken by:
If an employer authorises an employee’s absence for any reason, the absence will not break the employee’s continuous employment.
An employee’s service with the Defence Forces, irrespective of the duration, will not break their continuous employment.
An employee’s continuous employment will not be broken if:
An employee’s continuous employment will not be broken if:
The absences that do count as part of an employee’s period of continuous employment are:
An employee’s period of employment with a previous owner of a business is counted as part of their period of employment with the new owner where there has been a transmission of the business.
The absences or interruptions that do not count as part of an employee’s period of continuous employment for long service leave are:
Although these absences do not count as part of an employee’s period of employment for long service leave, they will not break an employee’s continuity of employment.
For information about the effect of JobKeeper enabling stand down directions on long service leave entitlements, see the JobKeeper enabling stand down directions and long service leave entitlements page.
For employees in the state system, information about the effect on long service leave entitlements of unpaid pandemic leave taken in accordance with the COVID-19 Flexible Leave Arrangements General Order provisions is available on the Unpaid pandemic leave page.
For employees in the national system who derive their long service leave entitlements from the Long Service Leave Act, any unpaid pandemic leave taken by the employee in accordance with the relevant provisions in a national modern award will not count towards the employee’s period of continuous employment for accruing long service leave, but will not break the employee’s continuous employment.
A casual or seasonal employee can have continuous employment despite working intermittently and/or with varying hours.
As a general principle, breaks between shifts or seasons where the employer does not provide the employee with work and which are part of the employee’s terms of engagement do not mean:
Such breaks between shifts or seasons that are part of the employee’s terms of engagement therefore:
However, whether a particular casual or seasonal employee has completed the required period of continuous employment will always depend upon the circumstances of their employment.
Fly in, fly out (FIFO) employees may work rosters where they do not perform work in ‘off weeks’. The same general principle applies to FIFO employees as with casual and seasonal employees.
Breaks between ‘on weeks’ where the employer does not provide the employee with work and which are part of the employee’s terms of engagement (i.e. off weeks) do not mean:
Consequently, breaks between ‘on weeks’ that are part of the employee’s terms of engagement (i.e. ‘off weeks’):
However, whether a particular FIFO employee has completed the required period of continuous employment will always depend upon the circumstances of their employment.
When an apprentice, including a trainee, completes an apprenticeship with an employer and the employer continues to employ the apprentice once they are qualified, the apprentice’s period of employment as an apprentice counts as part of their period of continuous employment with that employer.
The WA long service leave calculator can provide an estimate of an employee’s long service leave entitlement when employment ceases as a result of resignation, dismissal, or redundancy.
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