Long service leave payout in NSW: what you are paid when you leave.
Under 5 years, nothing. From 5 to 10 years, NSW pays only if you were dismissed (not for serious and wilful misconduct), made redundant, resigned because of illness, incapacity or a pressing necessity, or died. From 10 years you are paid however you leave: 0.8667 weeks per year of service, at the greater of your current or 5-year average pay, straight away.
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| Component | Formula | Value |
|---|---|---|
| State | - | NSW |
| Years of service | (2026-10-05 − 2025-10-05) | 1.00 yrs |
| Situation | Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW) s 4(2) | Not yet eligible, NSW requires 5 years for pro-rata. |
| LSL weeks paid | state formula | 0.00 wks |
| Hours of LSL | 0.00 × 38h | 0 hrs |
| Gross payout | 0 × $35.00 | $0.00 |
| Cash-out while employed? | Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW) | Not allowed while you are still employed (NSW Act s 4(8)). |
Disclaimer: This tool does not constitute legal or financial advice. Results may be inaccurate due to changes in legislation or your circumstances. This tool does not constitute legal or financial advice. We do not recommend taking actions based solely on these results. The calculator makes assumptions and results may be inaccurate due to changes in legislation, modern awards, or your personal circumstances. You use this information at your own risk. We can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong. For official guidance, visit Fair Work Ombudsman (fairwork.gov.au). Fair Work Ombudsman.
NSW long service leave payout calculator
The calculator above opens on the Payout tab and is locked to the Long Service Leave Act 1955. Enter the day you started, your last day of employment, your ordinary hourly rate and normal weekly hours, and how the job ended. It applies the 5, 10 and 15 year rules for that reason, counts part years, and multiplies the weeks by your hours and rate. Casual loading belongs in the hourly rate; overtime and penalty rates do not.
Three adjustments are yours to make. If you have already taken or been paid some long service leave, subtract those weeks. If your average weekly pay over the last 5 years is higher than your pay now, enter the average, because the payout uses the greater of the two (see which weekly pay rate your payout uses). And if your employer agreed to unpaid leave, move your start date later by that many days, because those days do not count as service.
Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW), in force from 1 July 2025. Checked 5 October 2026.
Your payout at 5, 7, 10, 15 and 20 years
Every NSW payout runs at one rate: 2 months for each 10 years, with a month fixed at 4 and one-third weeks by section 4(2)(a3). That is 8.6667 weeks per 10 years, or 0.8667 weeks for each year of service. What changes as the years pass is whether the reason you left matters. The table uses an example ordinary pay of $1,800 a week, an illustration rather than a sourced wage.
| Service when you leave | How the job ended | Weeks paid | Payout at $1,800 a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 years | Made redundant | 4.3333 | $7,800.00 |
| 7 years | Resigned for a new job | 0 | $0.00 |
| 7 years | Made redundant | 6.0667 | $10,920.00 |
| 9 years 11 months | Resigned for a new job | 0 | $0.00 |
| 9 years 11 months | Made redundant | 8.5944 | $15,470.00 |
| 10 years | Any reason, including serious and wilful misconduct | 8.6667 | $15,600.00 |
| 12 years | Any reason | 10.4000 | $18,720.00 |
| 15 years | Any reason, no leave taken | 13.0000 | $23,400.00 |
| 15 years 9 months | Any reason, no leave taken | 13.6500 | $24,570.00 |
| 20 years | Any reason, no leave taken | 17.3333 | $31,200.00 |
| 20 years | Any reason, 8.6667 weeks taken at year 11 | 8.6667 | $15,600.00 |
Weeks are years of service multiplied by 0.8667, less leave already taken. The 15 years 9 months row counts the part year, as NSW Industrial Relations has done since 1 March 2026.
If your employer works in hours rather than weeks, the same rate on a 38-hour week is 32.93 hours for each year of service. NSW Industrial Relations measures the entitlement in weeks, so convert at your own normal weekly hours.
Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW), in force from 1 July 2025; NSW Industrial Relations, long service leave FAQs. Checked 5 October 2026.
Leaving between 5 and 10 years: the reason decides
Section 4(2)(a)(iii) pays a worker who has completed at least 5 years only when the job ends in one of the listed ways. When it does, the amount is the full 0.8667 weeks per year, part years included. NSW Industrial Relations works through a part-time worker whose store closed after 5 years and 6 months: 4.76 weeks.
Resigning for a new job
Resigning to take another job, move, study or simply stop working is not on the list, so nothing is paid however close you are to 10 years. At 9 years and 11 months on $1,800 a week that gap is $15,470.00. Retirement on its own is not on the list either: a worker retiring in this band is paid only if a listed reason, such as illness, is what caused the decision.
Illness, incapacity, domestic or other pressing necessity
A resignation qualifies when illness, incapacity, or a domestic or other pressing necessity is the genuine motivating reason for leaving. You have to prove it on the balance of probabilities, and the March 2026 guide adds that it must be a reason that would cause a reasonable person in your situation to resign. NSW Industrial Relations gives leaving because wages could not meet essential family financial commitments, and genuine concern about job security ahead of an impending restructure, as examples that can count. Keep the medical certificates, letters and messages written at the time that show why you went.
Dismissal, redundancy and the end of casual or fixed-term work
Any termination by the employer pays unless it is for serious and wilful misconduct. The guide lists dismissal for underperformance, or for misconduct short of serious and wilful misconduct, as paying, and redundancy pays. The end of a series of casual engagements, or a fixed-term contract that is not renewed, may count as termination by the employer. NSW Industrial Relations says "may", so it turns on the facts, and the same goes for a casual whose shifts dry up.
Serious and wilful misconduct
This is the one employer termination that pays nothing between 5 and 10 years, and the employer has to prove it. NSW Industrial Relations describes it as more than poor performance. From 10 years the exclusion falls away and the payout is made even after that kind of dismissal.
Death
If a worker with 5 or more years of service dies, the employer must pay the long service leave to the worker's personal representative on request (s 4(5)(b)).
Leaving between 10 and 15 years: 3 months for 15 years, any reason
Section 4(2)(a)(ii) covers a worker with at least 10 but fewer than 15 years whose services are "terminated or cease for any reason". The payout is a proportionate amount on the basis of 3 months for 15 years service. Three months is 13 weeks, so the payout is your years divided by 15, multiplied by 13, which is the same 0.8667 weeks a year.
The familiar 8.67 weeks is the leave you can take while you stay. The next block, a further 4.33 weeks, only becomes available to take at 15 years, so the proportion in between exists only as a payment when the job ends. A worker at 12 years who stays can take 8.67 weeks; the same worker leaving is paid 10.40.
| Service when you leave | Working | Weeks paid | Payout at $1,800 a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 years | 10 ÷ 15 × 13 | 8.6667 | $15,600.00 |
| 11 years | 11 ÷ 15 × 13 | 9.5333 | $17,160.00 |
| 12 years | 12 ÷ 15 × 13 | 10.4000 | $18,720.00 |
| 13 years | 13 ÷ 15 × 13 | 11.2667 | $20,280.00 |
| 14 years | 14 ÷ 15 × 13 | 12.1333 | $21,840.00 |
Any reason includes a plain resignation and dismissal for serious and wilful misconduct.
Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW), in force from 1 July 2025; NSW Industrial Relations, long service leave FAQs. Checked 5 October 2026.
Leaving after 15 years: untaken blocks plus part years (the March 2026 change)
From 15 years the payout is any milestone leave you have not taken, 8.67 weeks at 10 years and 4.33 weeks for each further 5 years, plus a proportionate amount for the service since your last milestone, on the basis of 2 months for 10 years (s 4(2)(a)(i)(C)). Leave already taken or paid comes off the total.
Until 1 March 2026 NSW Industrial Relations counted only completed years after 15, so 15 years and 9 months was paid as 15. Its March 2026 guide counts the part years too, using the same proportional method that applies between 5 and 15 years, on the basis that the Act does not say part years must be ignored. The Act itself was not amended, and the regulator does not apply the new reading to remediations already completed. Leave you take while employed still follows the milestone dates.
| Service when you leave | Completed years only (before 1 March 2026) | Part years counted (from 1 March 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| 15 years 9 months | 13.0000 weeks, $23,400.00 | 13.6500 weeks, $24,570.00 |
| 23 years 6 months | 19.9333 weeks, $35,880.00 | 20.3667 weeks, $36,660.00 |
Both at $1,800 a week with no leave taken. The calculator counts part years.
Which weekly pay rate your payout uses
The payout is weeks multiplied by your ordinary pay on the prescribed date, which on termination is the day before your last day of employment. On a fixed rate, which includes a salary and an hourly rate for the hours you work (casuals included), ordinary pay is whichever is higher: your ordinary remuneration on that date, or the weekly average of it across the preceding 5 years (s 3(1)(a)). Workers on commission, piece rates, several rates or a bonus compare two averages of weekly wages instead, one over 12 months and one over 5 years, and take the higher (s 3(1)(b)).
Casual loading is included. Overtime, shift and other penalty rates and expense allowances are left out. Average weekly bonuses and the value of board or lodging can be added in some cases (s 3(1)(c), (d)). The Act's definition of ordinary pay contains no leave loading, so the calculator adds none; an award, agreement or contract can still provide one.
A worker made redundant at 7 years is now part-time on $1,080 a week, but averaged $1,500 a week over the last 5 years (illustrative figures). The payout uses $1,500: 6.0667 × $1,500 = $9,100.00, not 6.0667 × $1,080 = $6,552.00.
The same greater-of test applies to leave you take while employed, which is explained on how NSW averages pay for long service leave.
Leave already taken, leave in advance, and absences that do not count
Leave you have already taken or been paid comes off the payout, because section 4(5)(a) pays ordinary pay for the leave "less any amount already paid". A worker at 20 years who took 8.67 weeks at year 11 is paid 8.67 weeks on leaving, not 17.33.
By agreement, you can take leave in advance of the entitlement, from a single day (s 4(3A)); the employer does not have to agree. If the job then ends before you are entitled to it, or you took more than you were owed, the employer may deduct the excess from your final pay, capped at what that leave would be worth at termination (s 4(5)(c), (5AA)). The guide's example: 10 weeks taken in advance, 8.67 weeks owed at 10 years, so 1.33 weeks of ordinary pay is deducted.
Some absences leave your service unbroken but do not count towards it: unpaid leave your employer agreed to, unpaid parental leave unless your contract counts it, an industrial dispute, a stand-down for slackness of trade, and a break the employer caused if you are taken back within 2 months. Each one moves your 5, 10 and 15 year dates later, and NSW Industrial Relations' own example worker needed 10 years and 182 days of employment to reach 10 years of service. Absences for illness or injury, and absences under the terms of your employment, do count.
When it must be paid and how to recover an unpaid payout
On termination you are treated as having started your leave on the day the job ended, and the employer must pay it "forthwith" (s 4(5)(a)). NSW Industrial Relations reads that as immediately. Not paying is an offence with a maximum penalty of 20 penalty units (s 10(1)).
- Raise it with your employer in writing, with your start date, last day and the figure you expect.
- Contact NSW Industrial Relations on 131 628, or lodge a complaint with it. It deals only with workers covered by the Act.
- Apply to the Local Court, or the Industrial Relations Commission in Court Session, for an order to pay anything that fell due in the 6 years before your application (s 12(1)). A union official can apply for you with your written consent (s 12(2)).
If your employer is in liquidation, NSW Industrial Relations cannot recover the money; claim through the liquidator or the Fair Entitlements Guarantee. If your employer cannot find you after you leave, the amount must be paid to NSW Industrial Relations after 30 days, for deposit with NSW Treasury.
Can NSW long service leave be cashed out while you are still employed?
No. Section 4(8) bars an employer from paying, and a worker from accepting, money instead of long service leave, except on termination. Both sides commit an offence, and NSW Industrial Relations repeated in its April 2026 answers that the Act does not allow cashing out.
What is allowed is a lump sum when you actually take the leave. The employer may pay it in full when the leave starts, in your normal pay cycle, or in another way you agree (s 4(7)). That is payment for leave you are taking, not money in place of it.
Tax on a NSW long service leave payout
For service from 18 August 1993, which is all of it for anyone who started after that date, a payout on resignation or dismissal is withheld at your marginal rate. A genuine redundancy, invalidity or early retirement scheme payment is withheld at 32%. Service from 16 August 1978 to 17 August 1993 is withheld at 32% however you leave, and only 5% of any pre-16 August 1978 portion is taxed. Those older tranches matter only if you started before 18 August 1993.
Estimate your own split with the long service leave tax calculator, or switch the calculator above to its Tax tab.
ATO, PAYG withholding Schedule 7, published 17 June 2026 (retrieved 21 July 2026). Checked 5 October 2026.
Who this page does not cover
These rules come from the Long Service Leave Act 1955. They do not set your payout if:
- you are a national system employee whose award, enterprise agreement or pre-modern award has its own long service leave term;
- you are a NSW public sector worker under the Government Sector Employment Regulation 2014, which is why questions about NSW Health staff after 7 years fall outside this page;
- you work for the Commonwealth, or in local government under the Local Government State Award 2023;
- you are a black coal mining employee (see the coal mining long service leave calculator); or
- you are registered with a portable scheme in building and construction, community services or contract cleaning, which the Long Service Corporation runs, although the Act can still apply after 10 years with one employer. See portable long service leave and, for builders, the NSW construction long service leave calculator.
For the full NSW entitlement while you stay, see NSW long service leave. For the rules in the other states, see pro-rata long service leave by state.
NSW Industrial Relations, long service leave FAQs; Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW), in force from 1 July 2025. Checked 5 October 2026.
Sources
- Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW), in force from 1 July 2025, retrieved 5 October 2026.
- NSW Industrial Relations, long service leave FAQs, retrieved 5 October 2026.
- NSW Industrial Relations, Long Service Leave Guide, March 2026, retrieved 5 October 2026.
- NSW Industrial Relations, updated long service leave guidance, retrieved 5 October 2026.
- NSW Industrial Relations, updated guidance webinar questions and answers, April 2026, retrieved 5 October 2026.
- ATO, PAYG withholding Schedule 7, published 17 June 2026, retrieved 21 July 2026.
Published 5 October 2026. Checked against these sources on 5 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.