Long service leave

In Australia, long service leave (LSL) is a period of additional paid leave granted to employees who have completed an extended period of service with an employer. Under Australian law, most employees are entitled to long service leave if they work for the same employer for a prolonged length of time, the threshold usually being between seven and ten years. Long service leave is separate from annual leave; employees receiving long service leave continue to accrue annual leave as normal and, at a minimum, as prescribed by the National Employment Standards.

Currently there is no uniform national long service leave standard in Australia; the rules governing long service leave entitlements vary depending on the relevant jurisdiction or industrial instrument (e.g., award or enterprise agreement).^[1] The qualifying period of service ranges from seven to fifteen years, although, as noted, in most instances it is no higher than ten.^[1] The initial period of leave granted to eligible employees varies between around six and thirteen weeks.^[2][3] Long service leave legislation in many of the states and territories goes on to provide further long service leave entitlements should the employee continue to work with the employer.^[4][5][6]

Long service leave taken or cashed out is generally paid at the employee's ordinary pay rate, being the base hourly rate or salary stripped of any allowances, penalties, shift loading or overtime that they may otherwise be entitled to.^[7] Unused long service leave is paid out to employees when terminated.^[7] Normally employees who terminate before reaching the length of service required to access long service leave do not receive any payment related to long service leave notionally accrued during their employment. However, some state legislation contains limited exceptions to this rule.

The Institute of Actuaries of Australia estimated that the total value of long service leave benefits in Australia was around $16.5 billion in 2001.^[8]

There has been a debate in Australia about the protection of employee entitlements (including long service leave) in the event of employer insolvency, with some high-profile cases involving employees losing benefits that had been accrued.^{[citation needed]}