15 November 2023
Employer Obligations for Long Service Leave
Many private sector employers in Western Australia are covered by the state Long Service Leave Act, including employers in the national ‘fair work’ industrial relations system.
Under the Long Service Leave Act when a full time, part time, casual or seasonal employee completes 10 years of continuous employment, they have an entitlement to take 8.667 weeks of paid long service leave. An employee will then be entitled to take another 4.333 weeks of long service leave for every further 5 years of continuous employment.
After 7 years of continuous employment, an employee may have an entitlement to long service leave when their employment ends due to resignation, redundancy, dismissal, or when the employee dies.
This entitlement depends on the length of the employee’s continuous employment, and if the employee was dismissed, the entitlement also depends on whether they were dismissed for serious misconduct.
The term continuous employment has a specific meaning and may include service with a previous employer where there has been a change of business ownership.
The Wageline team at Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety (LGIRS) has produced comprehensive information and resources on long service leave obligations, including three new Long service leave – Explainer videos.
The long service leave information at https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/private-sector-labour-relations/long-service-leave-western-australia includes:
- Who is covered by the Long Service Leave Act
- Taking long service leave
- What is continuous employment?
- What is the entitlement when employment ends?
- What happened when business ownership changes?
The LGIRS website also hosts the WA long service leave calculator which can provide an estimate of an employee’s long service leave entitlement when employment ends as a result of resignation, dismissal, redundancy, or the death of an employee.
Employers can also get long service leave information over the phone from Wageline on 1300 655 266.