How many weeks of long service leave do you get?

Weeks of leave during your employment, by state

We round the figures to 2 decimal places. The figures come from the rules in each state Act, not from an award or agreement.

Why six states show nothing at 7 years

NSW, Queensland, WA, SA, Tasmania and the NT have a 10-year qualifying period. At 7 years, you cannot take leave yet. If your job ends for a qualifying reason, you can still get a pro rata payment. In Victoria and the ACT, you qualify at 7 years, with 6.0667 weeks. Official Victorian pages round this to about 6.1 weeks.

Why SA and the NT give more

SA and the NT give 13 weeks at 10 years. Then they give 1.3 weeks for each further completed year (SA s 5(1); NT s 8(1)). The other states give 8.6667 weeks at 10 years. That is about 0.8667 weeks per year.

Between the milestones

In NSW, WA and Tasmania, you can take leave in blocks during your employment. You get 8.67 weeks at 10 years, then 4.33 weeks at each further 5 years. At 12 years, you can still take only the 10-year amount. In Tasmania, your employer does not have to grant leave until a full block accrues (s 12(10)).

In Queensland, after 15 years you can take leave as it accrues (s 95(2)). In Victoria, leave accrues every week after 7 years (s 6). In the ACT, you get 0.8667 weeks for each completed year after 7 (s 3(2)). In SA, the entitlement increases by 1.3 weeks for each completed year after 10 (s 5(1)(b)). In the NT, you can take further leave after each extra 5 years, 6.5 weeks at a time (s 8(3)).

Weeks, days and public holidays

In SA, 13 weeks is 91 calendar days. Weekends and public holidays during leave count as leave days (s 7(7)). In the NT, public holidays during leave also count as leave (s 9).

In NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, Tasmania and the ACT, a public holiday during your leave extends it.

Portable schemes are different

If you work in an industry with a portable scheme, your weeks can be different. For example, the Victorian construction scheme gives 1.3 weeks per year for service after 1 July 2002, which is 9.1 weeks after 7 years. The SA construction scheme gives 13 weeks after 2,600 service days. See our portable schemes guide.