Long Service Leave Entitlements

Hi All,

I am looking for some guidence regarding Long Service Leave Entitlements.

I was at my place of employment for 7+ years, not including 12 months maternity leave. I have since resigned to be will our daughter and take on the full responsibilty of home duties.

I have contacted my HR manager regarding my entitlement to pro rata long service leave. I have been told that I would only be entitled to pro rata long service leave if any of the following circumstances apply to me, which my HR manager is saying DO NOT.

An employee is entitled to receive proportionate payment of long service leave on termination of employment after completing seven years continuous service with the same employer under the following circumstances:
- the death of the employee;
- the employee terminates their employment because of illness or incapacity or domestic or other pressing necessity;
- the employer dismisses the employee for a reason other than the employee’s conduct, capacity or performance; or
- the employer unfairly dismisses the employee

However I have done some research and it seems that leaving to take on the responsibilty of home duties can fall under 'domestic necessity'.

So my question is who should I contact now about this? Has anyone ever been in this situation? I would really love so advice and guidence.

Thank you!

I'm not sure. Who cares why you resign? I resigned after 7 years and I got my pro rata LSL payout. I didn't tell them why I was resigning either. I didn't know there were conditions now. I got it in 2008.

Hopefully a HR person can come in and help.

I resigned after 7 years and got my LSL. This was in 2006. I've recently been made redundant and didn't get LSL as I'd only been there nearly 6 when taking out mat leave. HR confirmed last month that it was 7 years for Vic and 5 for NSW. Good luck - I suspect your HR person is talking out of their bottom

Contact your union

No advice, but I have anothe LSL question. If you work casually, and then switch to permanent are your casual years included?

Call your union as does not sound right.

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No advice, but I have anothe LSL question. If you work casually, and then switch to permanent are your casual years included?

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In health they are not.

I think the answers to some of these questions will depend on the conditions of your employment. I'm pretty sure that working for the government I can access mine after seven years, but I don't think that is automatic elsewhere, and I'm not convinced home duties would qualify as a domestic necessity unless there had been a particular family problem or something, but as divvy said, check your union (even if you are not a member they will usually answer a question.

I believe that if you leave under 10 years unless it's because you are seriously ill, etc, then the employer is not obligated to pay pro rata. If you were made redundant or (like was my experience) your employer sells their business (so really same as redundancy), they are obliged to pay pro rata.
I guess unless you can prove that you had no choice other than to leave to work at home (as a mum) then they won't have to pay. Which REALLY stinks as you earn it. I am currently at nearly 8 years with my current employer and I need a change, but it seems alot to lose if I leave.

I guess it depends on the laws of the state. These are the Victorian laws:

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An employee ceasing employment after at least seven years of continuous employment with one employer is entitled to be paid long service leave at the accrual rate of one week for each sixty weeks of continuous employment, regardless of the reason for termination of the employment.

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Termination of Employment

• On the day that employment ends an employee with at least seven years of continuous service with one employer is entitled to receive, in full, payment for any long service leave not taken;
• This will apply whether the employee has resigned, has had their employment terminated by the employer, has been made redundant, or has died, and regardless of the number of staff the business employs.

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Thank you all.


I have found the following info, but I will contact the Union.

The Queensland legislation
Employees in Queensland who resign after seven years' service are entitled to a pro rata long service leave payment only if they resign for reasons of illness, incapacity, death or other pressing necessity. A payment should not be made to employees resigning for any other reason.

This entitlement exists in a number of other Australian jurisdictions. However, as in other Australian jurisdictions, the terms 'illness', 'incapacity', or 'domestic or other pressing necessity' are not defined and have been the subject of debate on a number of occasions.

General principles
The difficulty for employers is anticipating whether the circumstances of a particular employee will be considered by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (the Commission) as falling within the set criteria. The general thrust of case law on this point is that employees ceasing work for reasons beyond their effective control are entitled to the benefit.

The words 'domestic or other pressing necessity' have been interpreted to encompass a broad range of scenarios, including:

•a pregnant employee leaving work to take on the responsibility of home duties;

•an employee forced to leave work to take care of a sick spouse, or take care of children;

•an employee changing jobs to lessen travel expenses when in a difficult financial situation;

•an employee leaving a job because working night shifts had become a strain on the employee's family relationships and repeated requests for a transfer to the day shift had not been granted; and

•an employee leaving employment because the employer was relocating and the employee would have been required to travel substantial distances to attend work each day.