Pro-rata long service leave is the partial payout you receive when your employment ends before you have reached the full long service leave milestone. It is the single most misunderstood entitlement in Australian workplace law, and for one reason: there is no national rule. Long service leave sits outside the National Employment Standards, so eight separate state and territory Acts decide when a part-payment is owed, and most of them make the answer depend on why you left. In some places any resignation after seven years triggers a payout. In others, walking out voluntarily at nine years and eleven months gets you nothing at all, while being made redundant on the very same day gets you thousands. This guide sets out the threshold and the qualifying reasons for all eight jurisdictions, shows how the payment is calculated, and works through the dollars. You can check your own balance with our long service leave calculator.
Key takeaways
- Long service leave is not part of the National Employment Standards, so your entitlement comes from your state or territory Act (or, in limited cases, a pre-modern award or enterprise agreement).
- The pro-rata threshold is 7 years in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, and 5 years in New South Wales and the ACT.
- In NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, the NT and the ACT, a plain voluntary resignation below the full milestone pays nothing; you must have been terminated by the employer, or have resigned for illness, incapacity, domestic or other pressing necessity, or have died or reached retirement age.
- Victoria, WA and South Australia are the generous ones: the pro-rata amount is payable on any ending, with the only carve-out being dismissal for serious misconduct (plus, in SA, unlawfully quitting without notice).
- Redundancy counts as an employer termination in every jurisdiction, so a redundancy almost always unlocks the pro-rata payment where the service threshold has been met.
What pro-rata long service leave actually is
Long service leave is normally granted as a block of paid leave once you complete a long qualifying period with one employer, typically ten years. Pro-rata long service leave is different. It is not leave you take; it is a lump sum paid out in your final pay when your employment ends part-way through that qualifying period. Rather than getting nothing for nine years of loyalty, you get a proportion of the full entitlement, worked out against the service you actually completed.
Two thresholds matter, and confusing them is the most common mistake people make:
- The full entitlement threshold, the point at which a block of leave crystallises and can be taken while you are still employed. That is 10 years in NSW, Queensland, WA, SA, Tasmania and the NT, and 7 years in Victoria and the ACT.
- The pro-rata threshold, the earlier point at which a part-payment becomes possible only on termination. That is 7 years in most places and 5 years in NSW and the ACT.
Below the pro-rata threshold there is no long service leave entitlement of any kind, no matter how the employment ends. Above the full entitlement threshold, the accrued balance is paid out on termination for practically any reason. The genuinely tricky zone is the gap in between, and that gap is what the rest of this guide is about.
Why the rules differ so much between states
Every other major leave entitlement in Australia (annual leave, personal leave, public holidays) is standardised nationally through the National Employment Standards. Long service leave is the deliberate exception. Section 113 of the Fair Work Act 2009 preserves the operation of state and territory long service leave laws instead of replacing them, which is why the Fair Work Ombudsman refers enquiries out to eight different agencies rather than answering them itself. You can read more about how the federal layer fits together in our National Employment Standards guide and our Fair Work Act guide. Each jurisdiction has its own calculator and rules page: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT.
The practical result is that eight statutes drafted between 1955 and 2018 all still operate side by side, each carrying the policy assumptions of its own era. The older Acts (NSW 1955, WA 1958, ACT and Tasmania 1976, NT 1981) were written when a mid-career resignation was treated as the employee walking away from the bargain, so they only release the money where the departure was involuntary or forced by circumstance. The newest Act, Victoria's Long Service Leave Act 2018, dropped that test entirely. Two limited exceptions to state coverage exist: some employees get long service leave from a federal pre-modern award or an enterprise agreement instead, and workers in industries such as building and construction, contract cleaning, community services and security may be in a portable long service leave scheme where service follows the worker rather than the employer.
The Fair Work Ombudsman confirms that most employees' long service leave entitlement comes from state and territory laws, with Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s.113 cited as the source reference, and that federal pre-modern awards displace the state laws where they contain their own long service leave clause.
Pro-rata long service leave by state and territory
The table below is the core of this guide. The final column is the one to read closely: where a state imposes conditions, the condition itself is stated rather than a vague note that it depends.
| State / Territory | Governing Act | Full entitlement | Pro-rata available from | Conditions on pro-rata |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW) | 8.67 weeks (2 months) at 10 years, plus 4.33 weeks for each further 5 years | 5 years | Conditional. Payable only if the employer terminates for any reason other than serious and wilful misconduct, or the worker resigns on account of illness, incapacity, domestic necessity or other pressing necessity, or the worker dies. A plain voluntary resignation pays nothing. From 10 years the payment is unconditional. |
| VIC | Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic) | 1 week for every 60 weeks of continuous employment, which is 6.07 weeks at 7 years | 7 years | Unconditional. Once 7 years of continuous employment is complete, the full accrued balance is payable however the employment ends: resignation, dismissal, redundancy or death. Below 7 years nothing is payable. |
| QLD | Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld) | 8.6667 weeks at 10 years, plus a further 4.3333 weeks after another 5 years (13 weeks at 15) | 7 years | Conditional. Payable only if the primary reason for termination is the employee's death; the employee resigning because of illness (including injury or incapacity) or a domestic or other pressing necessity; dismissal by the employer because of the employee's illness; dismissal for a reason other than the employee's conduct, capacity or performance; or unfair dismissal. From 10 years the payment is automatic. |
| WA | Long Service Leave Act 1958 (WA) | 8.667 weeks at 10 years, plus a further 4.333 weeks for every 5 years after that | 7 years | Near-unconditional. Payable on resignation, dismissal, redundancy or death. The only exception is dismissal for serious misconduct, and the employer carries the onus of proving it. |
| SA | Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA) | 13 weeks at 10 years, plus 1.3 weeks for each subsequent year | 7 years | Near-unconditional. Payable on resignation, termination or redundancy. Two exceptions: termination on the ground of serious and wilful misconduct, and where the worker unlawfully ends the contract, for example by not giving the required notice. |
| TAS | Long Service Leave Act 1976 (Tas) | 8 and 2/3 weeks at 10 years, plus 4 and 1/3 weeks after each further 5 years | 7 years | Conditional. Payable if the employee reaches retirement age (60 for women, 65 for men), dies, or is terminated by the employer for any reason other than serious and wilful misconduct. May also be payable where employment ends because of illness of a nature justifying termination, or resignation due to incapacity or domestic or other pressing necessity. A plain voluntary resignation pays nothing. |
| NT | Long Service Leave Act 1981 (NT) | 13 weeks at 10 years, accruing at 1.3 weeks per year | 7 years | Conditional. Payable only if the employee has reached retirement age, the employer ends the employment for a reason other than serious misconduct (redundancy is the common example), or the employee resigns because they are unable to work due to illness, incapacity or a domestic or other pressing necessity. Paid on completed years only, so 8.5 years pays 8 years. |
| ACT | Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT) | 6.0667 weeks at 7 years, plus a further 1/5 of a month for each subsequent year | 5 years | Conditional. Payable where employment ends between 5 and 7 years because the employee terminates due to illness, incapacity or a domestic or other pressing necessity of a nature justifying termination; at or after the minimum retiring age; on death; or where the employer terminates for a reason other than the employee's serious and wilful misconduct. From 7 years the full entitlement applies. |
NSW: NSW Industrial Relations, long service leave and the Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW). VIC: Workforce Inspectorate Victoria and the Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic). QLD: Business Queensland, long service leave entitlements and the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld). WA: Wageline, long service leave when employment ends and the Long Service Leave Act 1958 (WA). SA: SafeWork SA, pro-rata entitlement and the Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA). TAS: WorkSafe Tasmania, pro rata long service leave and the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (Tas). NT: NT Government, long service leave and the Long Service Leave Act 1981 (NT). ACT: WorkSafe ACT long service leave guidance note and the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT).
Why you left is usually the deciding factor
In five of the eight jurisdictions the reason for your departure is worth more than the entitlement itself, because it decides whether there is an entitlement at all. Three families of qualifying reason recur across the older Acts.
Employer-initiated termination. If the employer ends the employment, the pro-rata amount is generally payable, subject only to a misconduct carve-out. NSW, Tasmania and the ACT exclude termination for serious and wilfulmisconduct, a deliberately high bar: NSW Industrial Relations gives theft, fraud, assault and refusing lawful and reasonable instructions as examples, and says the employer must prove it. Tasmania stresses that all three components (serious, wilful, and misconduct) must be made out. Queensland uses different wording again, excluding dismissals that relate to the employee's conduct, capacity or performance, but expressly including unfair dismissal as a qualifying reason. WA excludes only dismissal for serious misconduct, and SA only serious and wilful misconduct.
Resignation for illness, incapacity, or domestic or other pressing necessity. This is the escape hatch that lets an employee resign and still be paid, and it is the provision that generates the most disputes. NSW Industrial Relations sets out the test clearly: the qualifying reason must be your genuine motivating reason for resigning, it need not be the only reason, it must have been reasonable for you to resign in the circumstances, and you carry the burden of proving it on the balance of probabilities. Illness and incapacity are the easiest to evidence because medical records usually exist. Domestic or other pressing necessity is harder and is fact-specific: NSW gives relocating to keep a family unit together, resigning to care for a sick spouse or immediate family member, and resigning because wages were insufficient to meet essential family financial commitments. It is expressly not a lifestyle preference. Tasmania and the NT both suggest giving your employer supporting evidence at the time you resign, and the NT applies a reasonable-person standard.
Death and retirement. Every jurisdiction pays out on death, with the money going to the estate or personal representative. Tasmania, the NT and the ACT additionally treat reaching retirement age as a qualifying reason in its own right. Tasmania still states this as 60 for women and 65 for men, which reflects the age wording in the 1976 Act rather than modern preservation ages.
One further wrinkle worth knowing: Tasmania recognises constructive dismissal, so if you resigned only because your employer pressured you to, WorkSafe Tasmania treats that as an employer termination and the pro-rata entitlement may still arise.
How the pro-rata amount is calculated
There are three distinct formulas in use around the country. All of them run on continuous service, not calendar time from your start date, so any unpaid leave that does not count as service pushes your anniversary out.
- Proportion of the 10-year entitlement (NSW, QLD, WA, TAS). Weeks = (years of continuous service ÷ 10) × 8.6667. That works out to roughly 0.8667 of a week for each year. WorkSafe Tasmania publishes this as years × 0.8667 weeks; WA works the 7-to-10-year band down to years, months, weeks and days, but counts only completed years once you are past 10.
- One week per 60 weeks (VIC). Weeks = total weeks of continuous employment ÷ 60. Victoria's worked example is an employee at 7 years and 6 months: 364 + 26 = 390 weeks, divided by 60, giving 6.5 weeks. Arithmetically this is almost identical to the 0.8667 weeks per year used elsewhere.
- 1.3 weeks per completed year (SA, NT). Weeks = 1.3 × each completed year of service. Part years are discarded, so 8 years and 6 months pays 8 years. Because 1.3 weeks a year for 10 years produces 13 weeks rather than 8.67, South Australia and the Northern Territory are meaningfully more generous per year of service than the eastern states.
The ACT is its own case: 6.0667 weeks accrues at 7 years, with a further one-fifth of a month (about 0.8667 weeks) for each subsequent year, and the 5-to-7-year pro-rata payment is worked out for each completed year and month at that same underlying rate.
The rate of pay is generally your ordinary pay or ordinary remuneration at the time employment ends, which excludes overtime. The detail differs: Queensland pays the ordinary rate excluding overtime and honours an above-award rate; the NT excludes overtime, penalties and district or site allowances; the ACT excludes overtime, penalty rates and award allowances; Tasmania includes shift penalties and part-time and casual loadings but excludes overtime, bonuses and travel and meal allowances. Whatever is owed forms part of your final pay and, in NSW and SA at least, must be paid immediately on termination.
Casuals and part-timers
Casual employees are not shut out of pro-rata long service leave, which surprises many people because casuals are excluded from most other accruing entitlements. NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, SA, Tasmania and the NT all extend long service leave to casuals who satisfy the continuity test, and the ACT guidance says casuals may also be covered.
What differs is how continuity survives the gaps between engagements. Victoria treats casual and seasonal employment as continuous provided no absence between engagements exceeds 12 weeks, with exceptions where the parties agree, where the absence is seasonal, where the worker is regular and systematic with a reasonable expectation of re-engagement, or where up to 104 weeks of parental leave is taken. Queensland counts all continuous casual service but breaks continuity if there is a gap of more than 3 months between contracts. Tasmania deems casuals and part-timers continuously employed if they regularly work 32 hours or more in each consecutive 4-week period. Queensland also uses a different formula for casuals and part-timers: total ordinary hours worked ÷ 52 × 8.6667 ÷ 10 gives the number of hours payable, and a casual is paid at the loaded casual rate. There is more detail in our guide on whether casuals get long service leave.
Redundancy is the safest trigger of all
If your role is made genuinely redundant, you are on the strongest possible ground. A redundancy is a termination at the employer's initiative that has nothing to do with your conduct, capacity or performance, which means it satisfies the qualifying condition in every jurisdiction that has one. The NT explicitly names redundancy as an example of an employer termination for a reason other than serious misconduct, and Victoria lists redundancy alongside resignation and death as an ending that triggers payment.
Pro-rata long service leave is paid on top of your other end-of-employment amounts, not instead of them. A redundancy at eight years typically produces notice (or pay in lieu), redundancy pay under section 119 of the Fair Work Act, unused annual leave, and the pro-rata long service leave amount, all four as separate lines. Our redundancy calculator handles the second of those, and the severance pay guide explains why the redundancy scale peaks at 9 years and steps down at 10: the drafters assumed long service leave would take over. See also our termination pay page for how the pieces combine.
On tax, the ATO treats unused long service leave paid on termination as subject to PAYG withholding, with the amount withheld depending on when the eligible service period started, whether any long service leave has already been taken, and above all why the employee is leaving, since genuine redundancy, invalidity and early retirement scheme payments are treated differently from other reasons.
ATO, Unused long service leave, which confirms the withholding depends on the eligible service period start date, leave already taken, and the reason for leaving.
A worked example
Priya is a full-time employee in Queensland whose ordinary pay is $1,750 per week. She has 8 years and 6 months of continuous service. Her role is made genuinely redundant.
Priya is between 7 and 10 years, so the Queensland conditions apply. Redundancy is a dismissal for a reason other than her conduct, capacity or performance, so she qualifies.
Weeks = (8.5 ÷ 10) × 8.6667 = 7.3667 weeks.
Payment = 7.3667 × $1,750 = about $12,892, paid on top of her notice, her redundancy pay and her unused annual leave.
Now change one fact. Priya was not made redundant; she simply resigned to take a better job, on the same date, with the same 8 years and 6 months of service and the same $1,750 per week. Here is what she would receive in each jurisdiction:
| Jurisdiction | Payout on a plain voluntary resignation at 8 years 6 months |
|---|---|
| NSW | $0. Between 5 and 10 years a resignation must be caused by illness, incapacity, domestic necessity or other pressing necessity. |
| VIC | About $12,892. She is past 7 years, so 442 weeks ÷ 60 = 7.3667 weeks is payable however she leaves. |
| QLD | $0. A resignation for a better job is not one of the listed reasons. |
| WA | About $12,892. Resignation is expressly covered; only dismissal for serious misconduct would remove it. |
| SA | $18,200. Eight completed years × 1.3 weeks = 10.4 weeks, payable on resignation provided she gives the required notice. |
| TAS | $0. A voluntary resignation for career reasons is not retirement, illness, incapacity or pressing necessity. |
| NT | $0. Same reasoning; had she qualified, she would have been paid 8 completed years × 1.3 weeks = $18,200. |
| ACT | About $12,133. She is past the 7-year full entitlement, so 6.0667 weeks plus 1/5 of a month for the completed eighth year gives 6.9334 weeks. |
Same person, same service, same salary, same resignation letter. The outcome ranges from nothing to $18,200 purely on the basis of which side of a state line the work was performed. That is the practical reason it is worth checking your own jurisdiction's rule before you hand in a resignation, and why timing a departure around an anniversary date can be worth thousands.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get long service leave after 7 years?
In Victoria and the ACT, 7 years is the full entitlement, so yes, and you can take it as leave. In Queensland, WA, SA, Tasmania and the NT, 7 years is the pro-rata threshold, meaning you can be paid out on termination but generally cannot take the leave while still employed. In NSW the pro-rata threshold is 5 years and the full entitlement is 10 years.
Do I lose my pro-rata long service leave if I resign?
It depends entirely on your state. In Victoria, WA and South Australia a plain resignation above the threshold is paid in full. In NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, the NT and the ACT, a resignation only qualifies if it was genuinely caused by illness, incapacity, or a domestic or other pressing necessity (or, in Tasmania, the NT and the ACT, by reaching retirement age).
What counts as domestic or other pressing necessity?
It has to be a genuine necessity, not a preference. NSW Industrial Relations gives examples such as relocating for a family member's health or to keep the family unit together, resigning to care for a sick spouse or immediate family member with ongoing medical needs, and resigning because wages were insufficient to meet essential family financial commitments. You must prove it on the balance of probabilities, so collect evidence (medical certificates, lease or relocation documents, financial records) before you resign.
Is pro-rata long service leave paid if I am made redundant?
Yes, in every jurisdiction, provided you have reached the pro-rata threshold. Redundancy is a termination by the employer for a reason unrelated to your conduct, so it satisfies the qualifying condition everywhere it exists. It is paid in addition to redundancy pay, notice and unused annual leave.
What happens if I am sacked for misconduct?
Every jurisdiction has a misconduct carve-out, but the bar is high and the employer must prove it. NSW, Tasmania, SA and the ACT require serious and wilful misconduct; WA requires serious misconduct. In WA an employee dismissed for serious misconduct after 10 or more years still keeps the last fully accrued entitlement and loses only the pro-rata portion accrued since. Poor performance on its own is not misconduct.
Does casual service count towards pro-rata long service leave?
Generally yes, unlike redundancy pay. Every state and territory Act extends long service leave to casuals who meet the continuity test, though the gap that breaks continuity varies (12 weeks in Victoria, 3 months in Queensland, and a 32-hours-per-4-weeks pattern in Tasmania). See our guide on casuals and long service leave, or browse the glossary and FAQ for anything unfamiliar.
Which state's law applies if I worked across borders?
It depends on where your employment is properly located rather than simply where you sat. Queensland's Court of Appeal held in Infosys Technologies Limited v Fox [2025] QCA 45 that service only needs to be "partly in" Queensland, and need not be a substantial proportion of the total. Victoria requires employment to be "in and of Victoria", and South Australia covers work outside the state where the worker is predominantly employed in SA or the contract is governed by SA law. If you have worked across jurisdictions, check with the relevant state agency before assuming you are covered.
Author & reviewer
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.