Do casuals get long service leave?

Yes. Casual employees can get long service leave in every Australian state and territory. There is no single national rule for it: each state and territory has its own long service leave law, and all eight cover casual work. What changes from one jurisdiction to the next is the test for whether your casual service counts as continuous, how your pay is worked out when your hours move around, whether the casual loading is included, and what happens if you resign before the full entitlement. This guide sets those rules side by side with the section numbers, and labels which points come from the Act itself and which come only from a regulator's guidance.

All eight jurisdictions compared

Each regulator explains its own Act, so the eight are rarely seen side by side. Every row below is cited to the Act by section. Where a point rests only on the regulator's guidance, the cell says "Guidance". On a phone, scroll the table sideways.

Where "regular and systematic" actually applies

The phrase is repeated so often that many people take it to be the national test for casual long service leave. It appears in the long service leave rules of only three of the eight jurisdictions, and it does a different job in each.

• ACT. It is part of the definition. The Long Service Leave Act 1976 defines a casual employee as a person offered "regular and systematic employment" on the basis that the offer might be accepted or rejected, where further employment of the same type would or might be offered and accepted, but with no certainty about how long that would continue. Continuity is then a separate question under section 2G.
• Victoria. It is one of four grounds on which a casual or seasonal employee keeps continuity across a gap longer than 12 weeks (s 12(3)(d)). The other three are an agreement made before the gap, a gap due to the terms of engagement, and a gap caused by seasonal factors.
• Western Australia. It is one of three grounds in section 6(5). Absences under the terms of the employment, and absences caused by seasonal factors, keep continuity without it.
• NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the NT. Their long service leave provisions do not use it. Queensland's Industrial Relations Act uses the phrase in section 15, on long term casuals, but its long service leave division does not.

That does not make regularity irrelevant. NSW Industrial Relations and SafeWork SA both weigh the regularity of a casual's engagements, alongside the time between them and the reasons for the gaps, when deciding whether separate engagements add up to continuous service. Tasmania asks whether a casual is "regularly employed" for at least 32 hours in each 4 weeks. The point is that the test is different in each place, and the phrase alone does not decide it.

The continuity test in each jurisdiction

New South Wales

Section 4(11)(a) of the Long Service Leave Act 1955 counts continuous service "whether on a permanent, casual, part-time or any other basis, under one or more contracts of employment". Section 4(11)(a1) then lists interruptions that do not break it. An absence under the terms of your employment, or because of illness or injury, also counts as service. An industrial dispute, slackness of trade, leave granted by the employer, or a break the employer causes where you return within 2 months keeps continuity, but that period is not counted.

The Act says nothing more specific about casuals, so NSW Industrial Relations fills the gap with guidance that applies from 1 March 2026. It treats each shift as its own contract, then asks whether the engagements form a pattern, weighing their regularity, the time between them and the reasons for any interruption, case by case. In its example, a casual stable hand who usually works 3 shifts a week has the other 4 days treated as absences under the terms of her employment, which count as service. A casual teacher's 12 weeks outside school terms each year are treated the same way. NSW Industrial Relations describes this as its preferred view and recommends independent legal advice for a particular casual arrangement.

Victoria

The Long Service Leave Act 2018 includes "a casual or seasonal employee" in its definition of employee (s 3(1)). Victorian government guidance says casual employment is continuous as long as no gap between periods of work is longer than 12 weeks. Under section 12(3), a longer gap still keeps continuity if you and the employer agreed before it started, it is due to the terms of your engagement, it is caused by seasonal factors, or you have been employed on a regular and systematic basis with a reasonable expectation of being re-engaged. In the guidance example, a supermarket casual regularly rostered on Mondays keeps continuity through a long absence with no explicit agreement, because his work is regular and systematic and he expects to be re-engaged. Casual parental leave of up to 104 weeks does not break continuity either (s 12(2)(d)).

Two details are easy to miss. If a job ends and the same employer re-employs you within 12 weeks, continuity is kept but the gap is not counted (ss 12(6) and 14(b)). And for a gap longer than 12 weeks that section 12(3) protects, neither the Act nor the guidance says whether the gap itself adds to your total.

Queensland

For long service leave, the Industrial Relations Act 2016 defines a casual employee as one "employed more than once by the same employer over a period" (s 102). Section 103 keeps service continuous even though the employment is broken, is not full-time, runs under 2 or more contracts, or would otherwise be casual employment. Continuous service ends if the employment "is broken by more than 3 months between the end of 1 contract of employment and the start of the next" (s 103(3)), and a gap within that limit counts as service (s 103(4)(b)). Sugar industry and meat works seasonal employees have their own rule in section 107.

Business Queensland's summary says continuous service "may end" after a break of more than 3 months. The Act says it ends. The same page describes continuous service as paid working time and paid leave, which does not reflect the statutory rule that a gap of up to 3 months between casual contracts is counted. Where the two differ, the Act governs.

Western Australia

The Long Service Leave Act 1958 includes "a casual or seasonal employee" in its definition of employee (s 4(1)), and since 20 June 2022 it has had a continuity rule written for them. Under section 6(5), a casual or seasonal employee keeps continuous employment through an absence "irrespective of the duration" if it is an absence under the terms of the employment, an absence caused by seasonal factors, or any other absence after which the employee reasonably expects to return because of the regular and systematic nature of the work. Section 6A counts all three kinds of absence as service. Continuity also survives working under 2 or more contracts, or holding another job at the same time (s 6(6)).

The WA regulator's examples include a casual engaged to work only during school terms and a six-month harvest worker, both with continuous employment. Its guidance says the older general rules still apply to an entitlement that fully accrued before 20 June 2022.

South Australia

The Long Service Leave Act 1987 has no definition of a casual. It covers any worker employed under a contract of service, and defines service as continuous service "under a contract of service or a series of contracts of service" (s 3(1)). That series is the hook for casual work. Section 6(1) lists what does not affect continuity, including an absence in accordance with the contract of service (s 6(1)(c)) and a break the employer brings about where the worker is re-employed within two months (s 6(1)(i)).

SafeWork SA's guidance decides whether separate casual engagements form a series by looking at the regularity of the engagements, the time between them and the reasons for the gaps. It says intermittent, sporadic or irregular work can satisfy the continuous service test only if the breaks fall into the categories that preserve continuity. It counts absences in accordance with the contract of service towards accrual, lists a temporary lay-off followed by re-employment within 2 months as not counting, and says unpaid leave taken by a casual does not break service but does not count as service.

Tasmania

Tasmania uses an hours threshold. Section 5(3) of the Long Service Leave Act 1976 deems an employee who is "regularly employed by an employer for not less than 32 hours in each consecutive period of 4 weeks" to be continuously employed, even though the work is not full-time, is under 2 or more contracts, would otherwise be casual employment, or sits alongside another job. WorkSafe Tasmania's guidance says the same for casual and part-time employees.

The subsection opens with "Without limiting subsections (1) and (2)", and the Act does not say how a casual below the threshold shows continuity another way. A casual on one 6-hour shift a week works 24 hours in 4 weeks, which is under it. The general rules still apply to breaks: a termination for a reason other than slackness of trade followed by re-employment within 3 months keeps continuity but is not counted (s 5(1)(g), s 5(2)).

Northern Territory

The Long Service Leave Act 1981 defines employee to include a person working "full-time or part-time, or casual" (s 7(1)). It has no casual-specific continuity rule, so the general rules in section 12 apply. Continuity is not broken by an interruption where the employee is re-employed by the same employer within 2 months (s 12(4)(e)), by a stand-down for slackness of trade, or by an industrial dispute where the employee returns on the terms of settlement. An absence other than paid leave does not form part of the period of employment (s 12(5)).

The Act does not say whether days a casual is simply not rostered are an "absence" for that purpose. NT Government guidance lists casual employment as a situation in which you still accumulate long service leave, and says unpaid leave does not accumulate it.

Australian Capital Territory

The ACT is the one jurisdiction where "regular and systematic" is built into who counts as a casual, through the Dictionary definition quoted above. Continuity is governed by section 2G. An interruption, including the employer ending your service, does not break it if you return within 2 months (s 2G(2)(e)). A stand-down for slackness of trade does not break it if you are re-employed within 6 months (s 2G(2)(b)), and an interruption longer than 2 months caused by the seasonal nature of the work does not break it either (s 2G(3)). None of those periods counts towards your total (s 2G(5)).

The Act does not say whether ordinary unrostered days inside a regular casual pattern are an interruption at all. We were not able to check the ACT regulator's guidance for this guide, so the ACT sections rest on the Act alone.

A gap between casual jobs with the same employer

Casual work often stops and starts. This table shows the break, ending in re-employment by the same employer, that each Act allows without losing continuity, and whether the gap itself adds to your service.

Who ended the job can matter. NSW, WA and South Australia write their re-employment rule around a break the employer brings about, while Victoria's covers a job ended at the initiative of either side.

How casual long service leave is paid

A casual's hours rarely stay still, so every one of the eight Acts says how varying hours become a weekly figure. The methods are far apart, and the difference can be worth more than the difference in weeks.

• NSW: where no normal weekly hours are fixed, they are deemed to be your average weekly hours over the 12 months or the 5 years ending on the prescribed date (s 3(2A)), inside the ordinary pay definition in section 3(1).
• Victoria: if your hours are not fixed, or changed in the 104 weeks before the leave, your normal hours are the greatest average over 52 weeks, 260 weeks or your whole period of continuous employment, with unpaid leave left out (s 16). They are paid at your ordinary time rate on the day the leave starts (s 15(1)).
• Queensland: the total ordinary hours you actually worked over your continuous service, at your hourly rate for ordinary time on the day the leave starts or the termination takes effect (s 105). Business Queensland gives the arithmetic as total ordinary hours ÷ 52 × 8.6667 ÷ 10 = hours of leave, so 10,400 ordinary hours becomes 173.33 hours of leave.
• Western Australia: your average weekly hours over the period (s 7(2)), which the regulator reads as the accrual period, so the first 10 years are one period and each later 5 years another. Its guidance says the average takes in periods when a casual was not given work under their terms of employment. In its example, a casual who worked 7,750 hours over a 520-week accrual period averages 14.9 hours a week.
• South Australia: your average hours per week over the 3 years before the leave or payout, multiplied by your hourly rate on that date (s 3(2)(b)). Only the hours are averaged, so a recent pay rise counts in full.
• Tasmania: where no normal weekly hours are fixed, your average weekly hours over the 12 months before the leave (s 11(6)). WorkSafe Tasmania describes it as the total hours worked over the past 12 months divided by 52.
• Northern Territory: each completed year is valued on its own. Your rate of pay on the day before the leave or the end of employment is multiplied by that year's hours per week, averaged where they were not fixed, and by 1.3 (s 11(3)). The Act's own example, five years at 40, 40, 30, 25 and 20 hours a week and $30 an hour, pays $6,045.
• ACT: your average weekly hours over the 12 months before you became entitled, multiplied by your ordinary remuneration on that day (s 7(2)). When employment ends, the average is taken over the 12 months before it ends, at the rate payable just before (s 11D).

Is the casual loading included?

This is where the difference between statute and guidance matters most, because only one Act answers the question directly.

One point is settled everywhere it has been addressed: the loading is not a substitute for long service leave. WA's Act says a loading paid instead of the entitlement "is not a separate LSL entitlement" (s 4A(3)). NSW Industrial Relations says a casual hourly rate "cannot be loaded to compensate for long service leave", and Victorian guidance says the same. Victoria's Act also forbids an employer to give, and an employee to accept, a payment in lieu of long service leave except where it is permitted (s 34). To see how much of your own hourly rate is loading, use the casual loading calculator.

If you resign before 10 years

None of the eight Acts has a special pro-rata rule for casuals, so a casual who resigns is in the same position as a permanent employee who resigns. That is where the jurisdictions split hardest.

• Victoria: paid. From 7 years the whole balance is payable when employment ends for any reason (ss 6 and 9(1)).
• ACT: paid. From 7 years any accrued credit is paid when employment ceases for any reason, within 90 days (ss 3, 11A).
• Western Australia: paid. From 7 years a proportionate amount is paid on any termination except dismissal for serious misconduct (s 8(3)).
• South Australia: paid if the resignation is lawful. From 7 completed years, 1.3 weeks is paid for each completed year, unless the worker is dismissed for serious and wilful misconduct or ends the contract unlawfully (s 5(3) and (4)). SafeWork SA gives failing to give the required notice as an example of unlawful termination. Its own example is a casual nursery worker who resigns with the required notice just after 9 years: because 10 weeks of unpaid leave did not count, she falls two weeks short of 9 years and is paid 10.4 weeks rather than 11.7.
• NSW: not paid for a plain resignation. Between 5 and 10 years a payment needs termination by the employer other than for serious and wilful misconduct, or resignation because of illness, incapacity or domestic or other pressing necessity, or death (s 4(2)(a)(iii)). NSW Industrial Relations says the end of a series of casual engagements may amount to termination by the employer, and recommends legal advice on the facts.
• Queensland: not paid for a plain resignation. Between 7 and 10 years a payment needs a reason in section 95(4), such as resigning because of illness or a domestic or other pressing necessity, or dismissal for a reason other than conduct, capacity or performance. It also covers employment that ends through the passing of time where you reasonably expected to reach 10 years and were prepared to stay (s 95(4)(d)), a ground Business Queensland's summary leaves out.
• Tasmania: not paid for a plain resignation. Between 7 and 10 years a payment needs retirement age, termination because of illness, resignation because of incapacity or domestic or other pressing necessity, or termination by the employer other than for serious and wilful misconduct (s 8(3)).
• Northern Territory: not paid for a plain resignation. Between 7 and 10 years a payment needs retirement age, termination by the employer other than for serious misconduct, or leaving because of illness, incapacity or domestic or other pressing necessity (s 10(2)).

The pro-rata long service leave guide sets out every threshold and qualifying reason, including the 5-year window in NSW and the ACT.

Casual years before you went permanent

Where an Act or its regulator addresses a move from casual to permanent work with the same employer, the casual years are not thrown away.

• NSW: section 4(11)(a) counts continuous service "whether on a permanent, casual, part-time or any other basis, under one or more contracts of employment". NSW Industrial Relations adds that where a worker has moved between casual and full-time or part-time work with the same employer, "the worker's entire period of service should be considered".
• Queensland: section 105 applies if you were a casual or regular part-time employee "at any time" during your continuous service, and Business Queensland says the hours used include both your full-time hours and your casual or part-time hours.
• Western Australia: regulator guidance says changing from full time to part time or casual, or back again, "does not break the employee's continuous employment". In its example, an employee who worked 4 casual years and then moved to part time has the casual years averaged into her first 10-year accrual period.
• Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, the NT and the ACT: we found no provision aimed at conversion. Each Act measures continuous service with the one employer and covers casual work, so whether your casual years count depends on the continuity test above rather than on a separate rule. In the ACT, a worker who moved the other way, from full time to part time or casual within 2 years before becoming entitled, has ordinary remuneration calculated by dividing by 5 the total salary or wages paid over the previous 5 years (s 7(3)).

If you are weighing up the change itself, the casual conversion guide covers the employee choice pathway that replaced it, and casual vs permanent compares what each kind of employment gets.

When your state Act may not apply

A state or territory Act can step aside where another instrument already provides long service leave. South Australia's Act does not apply to workers with an entitlement under another Act or a fair work instrument (s 16), and the Northern Territory's does not apply to a person covered by another law's long service leave provision or by an award that provides for it (s 6(2)). WA guidance says the WA Act does not cover a casual entitled to at least equivalent long service leave under an award, an industrial agreement, an agreement with the employer or another law, nor workers covered by the construction industry portable scheme. WorkSafe Tasmania lists construction industry employees, whom it refers to TasBuild, and employees under federal awards or agreements with long service leave provisions. If you work in building and construction, start with portable long service leave.

Checking your own position

Start with the page for the state or territory you work in, which covers the full entitlement, the pro-rata conditions and how the payment is calculated: the NSW leave calculator, Victoria leave calculator, QLD long service leave calculator, WA leave calculator, SA long service leave calculator, TAS long service leave calculator, NT leave calculator or ACT long service leave calculator. The national long service leave calculator compares the entitlement across all eight.

For a casual, the hardest part is usually the hours record. Queensland employers must keep a record of each casual's total ordinary hours from the start of service to 30 June each year, and South Australian employers must work out each worker's average hours per week over the preceding 12 months, every 12 months (s 10(3)). Ask for those records, and keep your own payslips, before you rely on any figure.

Common questions

Do casuals get long service leave in every state?

Yes. The long service leave Acts of all six states and both territories cover casual work. Victoria, WA, the NT and the ACT name casual employees expressly, NSW counts service on a casual basis, Queensland defines a casual for the purpose, South Australia covers a series of contracts of service, and Tasmania deems a casual continuously employed at 32 hours in each 4 weeks. Whether your own service qualifies depends on that jurisdiction's continuity test.

Does a casual get fewer weeks of long service leave than a permanent employee?

No. None of the eight Acts gives a casual a smaller entitlement for the same continuous service. What changes is the value, because each Act works out a casual's pay from the hours actually worked, averaged in the way set out above. Queensland's formula turns total ordinary hours straight into hours of leave.

Can my employer pay a higher hourly rate instead of long service leave?

Not where the question has been addressed. WA's Act says a loading paid instead of the entitlement is not a separate entitlement (s 4A(3)), NSW and Victorian guidance both say a casual rate cannot be loaded to compensate for long service leave, and Victoria's Act forbids a payment in lieu of long service leave except where permitted (s 34).

My shifts are irregular. Can I still qualify?

Possibly. In Queensland, irregular work is continuous unless a gap between contracts exceeds 3 months. In WA, absences under the terms of your employment keep continuity whatever their length. In Victoria, the guidance allows gaps of up to 12 weeks. In South Australia, irregular work counts only if the breaks fall into the categories that preserve continuity. In Tasmania, the Act's deeming rule needs at least 32 hours in each 4 weeks.

How many years does a casual need to work for long service leave?

The same as anyone else with continuous service: 7 years in Victoria and the ACT, and 10 years in NSW, Queensland, WA, South Australia, Tasmania and the NT. A payment on leaving can arrive earlier, from 5 years in NSW and the ACT and from 7 years in Queensland, WA, South Australia, Tasmania and the NT, but in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, the NT and the ACT only for the reasons their Act lists.

Author & reviewer

Sarah Reid, CAHRI

Certified Australian HR Practitioner · Cert IV Payroll · 12 years Fair Work compliance

Sarah has spent over a decade advising Australian SMBs on Fair Work, NES compliance, and payroll. Based in Sydney, she has worked across hospitality, retail and professional services.

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