In the ACT you become entitled to long service leave after 7 years, not 10. You get about 6.07 weeks at 7 years, then about 0.87 weeks for each further completed year (s 3, s 4). If your job ends after 5 to 7 years, you are paid a pro-rata amount only for certain reasons, and an ordinary resignation is not one of them (s 11C).
How much leave you get
You accrue long service leave at 1/5 of a month for each year of service (s 4). You become entitled once you complete 7 years (s 3). WorkSafe ACT converts this to weeks as 1/5 x years x 52/12, which gives 6.0667 weeks (about 6.07) at 7 years.
After that, you are entitled to more leave for each year of service you complete after the 7th year (s 3(2)). Each completed year adds about 0.87 weeks. Your entitlement for a period arises at the end of that period (s 3(3)).
Only completed years count towards this entitlement. WorkSafe ACT says completed months are not taken into account. If you leave after 9 years and 8 months, you are paid for 9 years: about 7.80 weeks.
WorkSafe ACT's table: 7 years = 6.07 weeks, 8 = 6.93, 9 = 7.80, 10 = 8.67, 12 = 10.40 and 15 = 13.00 weeks.
WorkSafe ACT's example: a full-time employee on $560 a week with 7 years is paid $3,397.35 for their 6.0667 weeks.
When you leave
With less than 5 years, you get no long service leave payment under the Act (s 11C).
From 5 to under 7 years, you are paid a pro-rata amount only if your job ends for a listed reason (s 11C). The listed reasons are: illness, incapacity or domestic or other pressing necessity; reaching the minimum retiring age; death; or your employer ending your employment for a reason other than serious and wilful misconduct (s 11C(1)). Redundancy counts as an employer termination (s 11C).
The pro-rata amount counts completed years and completed months (s 11C(2)). It is a period of ordinary pay that bears the same proportion to 2 months as your service bears to 10 years, which works out at about 0.87 weeks per year.
The minimum retiring age is the age set by your award or agreement. If none is set, it is 65 (s 11C(3)).
After 7 years, your employer must pay your long service leave credit when your job ends, for any reason, including serious misconduct (s 11A). The credit is the leave you have accrued less any leave you have taken (s 11A(1)). Only completed years count (s 3(2)).
Since 19 November 2025, it is an offence for your employer not to pay your long service leave credit within 90 days after your employment ends (s 11A(4)). If you die, the payment goes to your legal personal representative.
| How the job ended | 5 to 7 years | After 7 years |
|---|---|---|
| Resigned | Nothing is payable (s 11C). | Your long service leave credit is paid, for completed years only (s 11A, s 3(2)). |
| Resigned due to illness or pressing necessity | Paid pro-rata, counting completed years and months (s 11C). | Your long service leave credit is paid (s 11A). |
| Employer ended your employment | Paid pro-rata, unless it was for serious and wilful misconduct (s 11C). | Your long service leave credit is paid (s 11A). |
| Made redundant | Paid pro-rata. Redundancy is a termination by your employer for a reason other than serious and wilful misconduct (s 11C). | Your long service leave credit is paid (s 11A). |
| Dismissed for serious and wilful misconduct | Nothing is payable (s 11C). | Your long service leave credit is still paid (s 11A). |
| Retired | Paid pro-rata if you have reached the minimum retiring age: your award or agreement age, otherwise 65 (s 11C(3)). | Your long service leave credit is paid (s 11A). |
| Death | Your legal personal representative is paid the pro-rata amount (s 11C). | Your legal personal representative is paid your long service leave credit (s 11A). |
Before you rely on this
- Awards and agreements: the Act applies despite any award or agreement, except one that gives you more favourable rights (s 14). WorkSafe ACT says the Act covers private-sector employees who are not covered by an award or agreement, or whose award or agreement has no long service leave provisions.
- Ordinary resignation between 5 and 7 years gets nothing. Only the listed reasons qualify for pro-rata (s 11C).
- WorkSafe ACT's Calculation Guidelines, Example 3, prints a payment of $2,876.60. Its own figures, $474 a week for 6.0667 weeks, come to $2,875.62. This site calculates the amount rather than copying the printed figure.
- No official ACT source says whether you can cash out leave while employed, or whether the 5-year averaging rule applies when your job ends (s 7(3), s 11D).
- WorkSafe ACT converts months to weeks using 52/12. A strict calendar-month reading could give a slightly different result for leave taken in calendar months.
- If you worked in building and construction, contract cleaning, the community sector or security, you may be in a portable scheme run by ACT Leave instead. WorkSafe ACT says these employees usually cannot claim under this Act for those periods (s 2D, s 2E, s 2EA).
- We could not find an official long service leave calculator for the ACT. This site's figures are estimates.
What counts as service
Counts as service
- Annual leave and long service leave (Dictionary, continuous service).
- Illness or injury leave of up to 2 weeks in any 1 year (Dictionary, continuous service).
- A period when your employer interrupted or ended your service to avoid long service leave (Dictionary, continuous service).
- An apprenticeship or approved training contract with the same employer, if your service begins within 1 year after it ends (Dictionary, continuous service).
- Defence Force service other than continuous full-time service, and temporary service outside the ACT (s 2G(2)(f)-(g), s 2G(5)).
Does not count, but does not break your service
- Time lost to an industrial dispute (s 2G(5)).
- Time stood down for slackness of trade (s 2G(5)).
- Absence with your employer's leave, such as unpaid leave (s 2G(5)).
- Absence because of a work injury (s 2G(5)).
- Gaps of up to 2 months before you return (s 2G(5)).
Breaks your service
- An industrial dispute does not break your service if you return under the settlement (s 2G(2)(a)).
- A stand-down for slackness of trade does not break it if you are re-employed within 6 months (s 2G(2)(b)).
- Absence with your employer's leave, or because of a work injury, does not break it (s 2G(2)(c)-(d)).
- Any other interruption, including your employer ending your service, does not break it if you return within 2 months (s 2G(2)(e)). A break your employer causes to avoid long service leave counts as service.
- An interruption of more than 2 months caused by the seasonal nature of the work does not break it (s 2G(3)).
- Any other interruption of more than 2 months does break it, for example resigning and coming back after more than 2 months (s 2G).
- Time that does not count pushes your dates back. In the Act's own example, Fiona's resignation gap, a strike and a work injury added up to 9 months, so her leave fell due 9 months later (s 2G).
Casual work: you are covered as a casual if you are offered regular and systematic employment from time to time, with an expectation of further work (Dictionary, casual employee).
Transfer of business: if the business is transferred, your service is treated as unbroken and your service with the old employer counts with the new one (s 10). If a contract is re-tendered and the new contractor must take on the old contractor's staff, your periods of service are added together (s 10A). Service with associated companies counts as service with your current employer (s 11).
How your pay is worked out
Long service leave is paid at your ordinary remuneration (s 7). This is your salary or wages, plus allowances for skill, qualifications and board and lodging, plus bonuses, performance pay or incentives usually paid with your wages, plus the value of any board and lodging your employer provides (Dictionary, ordinary remuneration). It leaves out overtime, penalty rates, and allowances that an award or agreement does not take into account for overtime rates.
When you take leave as a part-time or casual employee, your pay is your average weekly hours over the 12 months before the day you became entitled, multiplied by your hourly rate on that day (s 7(2)). WorkSafe ACT's example: 780 hours in 12 months / 52 = 15 hours a week, x $17 = $255 a week, x 6.0667 weeks = $1,547.00.
If you changed from full-time to part-time or casual within 2 years before becoming entitled, your pay is the total salary or wages paid to you in the 5 years before the entitlement date, divided by 5 (s 7(3)). WorkSafe ACT then divides by 52 to get a weekly figure.
When your job ends, your pay is worked out at your rate immediately before your employment ended. If you were part-time or casual, your hours are your average weekly hours over the 12 months before it ended (s 11D).
The Act does not say whether the 5-year averaging rule in s 7(3) also applies when your job ends. No official guidance answers this. This site uses s 11D for payments on termination.
If you are paid fully or partly by commission, you are treated as paid wholly by salary or wages through the year. Your weekly amount is the total paid for the year, commission and wages together, divided by 52 (s 2F).
If your award or agreement pay rate goes up while you are on leave, you are entitled to the increase (s 8(3)).
Taking your leave
- Minimum period
- No official ACT source says whether there is a minimum length for a period of long service leave.
- Notice
- Your employer must give you at least 60 days' written notice of the date your leave starts, unless you agree otherwise (s 6(2)-(3)). Once you are entitled to 4 weeks or more, your employer must grant your leave as soon as practicable having regard to the needs of the business, or at times you agree (s 6(1)).
- Public holidays
- Each public or award holiday that falls during your leave adds 1 day to it (s 9).
- Leave in advance
- No official ACT source says whether you can take long service leave in advance.
- When you are paid
- You are paid in advance for the whole period, or at your normal pay times, or as you and your employer agree (s 8(1)). If you ask, your employer must send payment by cheque to an address you nominate (s 8(1)). When your job ends, payment is due within 90 days (s 11A(4)).
Cashing out
No ACT law or ACT official guidance says whether you can cash out long service leave while you are still employed. The Act provides for payment instead of leave only when your employment ends (s 11A, s 11C), and it does not allow an agreement that is less favourable than the Act (s 14). The Fair Work Ombudsman says, in general terms, that long service leave usually can't be cashed out while the employee is still working for the business.
Records your employer must keep
Your employer must keep long service leave records for 7 years (s 12(2)).
Who these rules cover
- Full-time and part-time employees
- Casual employees offered regular and systematic employment
- Piecework employees
- Employees paid by commission (s 2F)
Not covered
- Public employees (Dictionary, employee)
- People employed by a member of the Legislative Assembly under the Legislative Assembly (Members' Staff) Act 1989
- Periods for which you received a benefit under a portable scheme Act, such as building and construction, contract cleaning, community sector and security (s 2D, s 2E, s 2EA)
Recent changes
- 19 November 2025: The Workplace Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (No 3) took effect. It is now an offence for an employer not to pay your long service leave credit within 90 days after your employment ends (s 11A(4)-(5)). Authorised officers also gained new entry and information powers.
Questions about long service leave in ACT
How many years until I get long service leave in the ACT?
7 years. You are then entitled to about 6.07 weeks (s 3, s 4).
Do I get long service leave if I resign after 5 years in the ACT?
Not for an ordinary resignation. Between 5 and 7 years, pro-rata is paid only for listed reasons, such as illness, pressing necessity, retirement age, death or your employer ending your job other than for serious and wilful misconduct (s 11C).
How long does my employer have to pay my long service leave when I leave?
90 days after your employment ends. Since 19 November 2025, missing this is an offence (s 11A(4)).
How is long service leave worked out for casuals in the ACT?
Your average weekly hours over the 12 months before you became entitled, multiplied by your hourly rate on that day (s 7(2)). When your job ends, it is your average hours over the 12 months before it ended (s 11D).
Can I cash out long service leave in the ACT?
No ACT rule says either way. The Act provides for payment instead of leave only when your job ends (s 11A, s 11C), and the Fair Work Ombudsman says long service leave usually can't be cashed out while you are still working.
Official sources
- Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT)ACT Parliamentary Counsel's Office
- Guidance Note 067A: Long Service Leave Calculation GuidelinesWorkSafe ACT
- Guidance Note 067: Long Service LeaveWorkSafe ACT
- Long service leaveWorkSafe ACT
- Guidance materialWorkSafe ACT
- Contact usWorkSafe ACT
- Workplace Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (No 3) (A2025-30)ACT Parliamentary Counsel's Office
- Legislation Act 2001 (ACT)ACT Parliamentary Counsel's Office
- Payment of long service leaveFair Work Ombudsman
Rules last reviewed 3 November 2026 against the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT) and the regulator's guidance.