The Long Service Act 1976 covers employees in the ACT who are not covered by an award or agreement or where an award or agreement does not contain provisions for long service leave. Full-time and part-time employees (including piece-rate workers) are included in this coverage. Casual employees, who work regular and systematic hours and have the expectation that regular work will continue, would also be covered.
Public Sector employees are not covered by this Act.
Employees covered by the Long Service Leave (Portable Schemes) Act 2009, would not usually be entitled to benefits under this Act.
An employee who completes a period of continuous service of at least 7 years is entitled to 6.0667 weeks paid leave. When a public holiday or award holiday falls during long service leave, the period of long service leave is increased by one day for each public or award holiday.
For each subsequent year of continuous service, the employee accrues a further 1/5 of a month of long service leave.
Continuous Service includes:
Please note periods of service outside the ACT may not contribute to your total period of service when calculating an entitlement to long service leave.
The employer shall grant long service leave to the employee as soon as practicable after the leave has accrued at a time agreed between the parties. If an agreement cannot be reached the employer shall give the employee notice in writing that leave must be taken after 60 days from the date of the notice.
Payment for long service leave is at the rate of the employee's ordinary remuneration. Ordinary remuneration does not include overtime, penalty rates and allowances paid by virtue of an award or agreement.
Special conditions apply to an employee who ceases to be full-time and becomes part-time or casual within a period of 2 years immediately before the date on which he/she becomes entitled to long service leave. In these circumstances adding the previous 5 years salary and dividing the total by 5 shall attain the employee's ordinary remuneration.
Payment shall be made in advance of the employee going on leave, or if agreed on the normal payday. Payment on termination should be made as soon as possible after termination.
An employer commits an offence if an employee becomes entitled to 4 weeks or more of long service leave and the employer does not grant the leave as soon as practicable having regard to their business unless otherwise agreed between both parties.
Where an employee has been employed for at least 5 years but less than 7 years and the employment is terminated:
The employee is entitled to a pro rata payment of long service leave for each completed year and month of service.
An employer shall keep the following records for each employee for 7 years after the service ends or on the employee's death:
Where there is a transfer or change of ownership of a business, and the employee continues employment in the business, the period of service of that employee is deemed to be continuous, and the new employer inherits the liability.
Authorised Officers are empowered under the Act to inspect employer records and to investigate complaints. The Authorised Officer may require an employer to comply with the requirements of the Act. The Act allows an employer to apply to the Registrar of Long Service Leave to review any decisions made by an Authorised Officer.
Failure to fulfil obligations in the payment of long service leave may incur a penalty of up to $25,000.