SA Long Service Leave.
Calculate long service leave entitlement under your state Act. Covers all 8 states & territories with state-specific triggers, accrual rates and pro-rata rules. Pre-configured for South Australia under State LSL Acts.
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| Component | Formula | Value |
|---|---|---|
| State | - | SA |
| Trigger | - | 10 years |
| Pro-rata from | - | 7 years |
| Years of service | (2026-09-24 − 2025-09-24) | 1.00 yrs |
| LSL weeks | state formula | 0.00 wks |
| Hours of LSL | 0.00 × 38h | 0 hrs |
| LSL value | 0 × $35.00 | $0.00 |
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.
How long service leave works in South Australia
South Australia is the most generous jurisdiction in the country. Under the Long Service Leave Act 1987 the full entitlement is 13 weeks after 10 years of continuous service, then a further 1.3 weeks for each subsequent year.
The full entitlement is 13 weeks at 10 years, plus 1.3 weeks for each subsequent year. Long service leave sits outside the National Employment Standards, so this is set by South Australia law rather than federal law, and the figures differ from every other state. Compare all eight in our guide to long service leave after 10 years.
Leaving before 10 years: pro-rata in SA
Pro-rata long service leave becomes possible at 7 years of continuous service in South Australia. That threshold is necessary, but in this state it is also sufficient.
This is the single most misunderstood part of long service leave, and it is where people lose the most money. The threshold is what gets quoted in conversation; the condition is what decides whether anything is actually paid. Our pro-rata long service leave guide sets out the rule for all eight states and territories side by side.
What counts as continuous service
Service must be with the one employer but survives most interruptions. Paid leave counts, authorised unpaid absences pause rather than break continuity, and service transfers with a business sale. SA also covers work performed outside the state where the worker is predominantly employed in SA or the contract is governed by SA law.
South Australia long service leave law covers casual employees, as the law in every state and territory does. What differs between them is the test for whether casual service counts as continuous, which our guide to casual long service leave rules by state sets out for all eight.
How the payment is calculated
Payment is at your ordinary weekly rate of pay on the relevant date, which is the day the leave starts or the right to a payment in lieu arises, excluding overtime, shift premiums and penalty rates (s 3). If at any time in the 3 years before that date you were paid by the hour, your ordinary hours varied, or you worked casual or part-time, section 3(2)(b) averages your hours per week over those 3 years and multiplies the average by your hourly rate on the relevant date. Only the hours are averaged, so a pay rise flows through in full.
How the payout is taxed
The entitlement is set by South Australia law, but the tax on it is federal and works differently to almost every other payment. The ATO splits a long service leave payout by when the service was performed, not just why you left, and taxes each slice under the rules that applied at the time. Service from 18 August 1993 is taxed at your marginal rate on an ordinary resignation, or capped at 30% plus the Medicare levy on a genuine redundancy. Earlier service is treated more favourably again.
This is why a flat 32% estimate is usually wrong: that figure is a ceiling plus the Medicare levy, not a fixed rate, so anyone below the 30% bracket pays less. Work out the split on your own payout with the long service leave tax calculator.
An SA worked example
Rachel, 10 years with one employer, an Adelaide practice manager, on $1,600 a week.
South Australia grants 13.00 weeks at 10 years under the Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA). The payment is 13.00 x $1,600 = $20,800.00 gross, whether taken as paid leave or paid out on termination.
Taken as leave it is taxed as ordinary income in the period it is paid. Paid out on termination the withholding rules differ, and for a redundancy they differ again: see how leave payouts are taxed and genuine redundancy and tax.
Does other leave keep accruing while you are on it?
Yes. Long service leave is paid leave, and paid leave counts as service in every Australian jurisdiction. That means annual leave and personal leave continue to accrue for the whole time you are away, and the period also counts towards your next long service leave milestone. A worker taking 13.00 weeks in SA comes back with roughly a week of extra annual leave already banked.
A public holiday falling inside a period of long service leave is treated the same way it is inside annual leave: you are not taken to be on leave that day, so it does not come out of your balance. The SA dates are listed on SA public holidays. If you fall ill during long service leave, most states let you convert the affected days to personal leave with evidence, which preserves the long service balance.
Long service leave in your final pay
When employment ends, any long service leave you are entitled to is paid as part of your final pay rather than separately. It sits alongside unused annual leave, outstanding wages, and notice or redundancy where they apply. Work the whole amount out on the final pay calculator, or see termination pay for how the components fit together.
Two things change the number. Superannuation is generally not payable on a long service leave payout, because the ATO does not treat it as ordinary time earnings, and the withholding rate depends on why the employment ended. A payout tied to a genuine redundancy is taxed concessionally, while an ordinary resignation is taxed at your marginal rate. Neither changes the gross figure the calculator produces above; both change what lands in your account.
The SA catch worth knowing
The 13-week entitlement is 50% more than the 8.67 weeks that NSW, Queensland, WA and Tasmania provide for the identical decade of service. On a $1,600 week that is $20,800 against $13,872, a difference of nearly $7,000 decided purely by which state the work was performed in. One trap: giving no notice can forfeit the pro-rata payment, because unlawfully ending the contract is one of the two exceptions.
South Australia lets you cash out by written agreement after 10 years
Once you have completed 10 years of continuous service in South Australia, you and your employer can agree in writing to a payment instead of taking some or all of the accrued long service leave. The agreement has to be in writing, signed by both parties, and specify the dates the payment covers, which is what keeps it from becoming an informal arrangement nobody can later evidence. South Australia is one of only a few jurisdictions to permit this while employment continues: the Northern Territory and the ACT do not allow it by default, and in Victoria the same agreement would be an offence for both of you. Before agreeing, note that taking the leave and cashing it out are taxed differently, because leave taken as leave is taxed as ordinary earnings through your normal pay cycle.
SafeWork SA, payment of entitlement. Verified 11 August 2026.
South Australia averages varying hours over three years, not one
Where you were paid by the hour, your ordinary hours varied, or you worked casual or part-time at any point in the three years before the leave starts or a payment in lieu falls due, section 3(2)(b) of the Long Service Leave Act 1987 averages the hours you worked per week over those three years. The average is then multiplied by your hourly rate on that date, excluding overtime, shift premiums and penalty rates. A change in your pay rate on its own is not a trigger. The long window is the point. A worker who cut back from full-time to part-time in the last year keeps more of the benefit of the earlier full-time years than they would in Tasmania, which averages hours over the last 12 months, because two thirds of a South Australian averaging window predates the change. The rate works the other way: only the hours are averaged, so a pay rise late in your service flows through in full rather than being diluted. The Act also says a casual is not to be regarded as paid at a penalty rate, and SafeWork SA says a casual receives their current hourly rate including the casual loading. Combined with the 13 weeks South Australia grants at 10 years, this makes it one of the more generous long service leave regimes in the country.
Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA) s.3(2). Verified 14 September 2026.
Your employer must give 60 days notice to direct you to take leave
If your employer wants to direct you to take long service leave rather than agree a date with you, South Australia requires at least 60 days written notice before the leave is to start. Two months of warning is more than several other jurisdictions provide, and it exists so that a direction cannot be used to clear a leave balance at short notice, for instance immediately before a restructure. The flip side is that an employer cannot indefinitely refuse a reasonable request either. If you are given a direction with less than 60 days notice, the notice period rather than the direction itself is the thing to query first, since fixing the timing is usually simpler than disputing the employer’s right to direct at all.
SafeWork SA, requesting and taking leave. Verified 11 August 2026.
Construction workers: your service may be portable
If you work in building and construction, the continuous-service rule above may not be the one that applies to you. South Australia runs a portable long service leave scheme where service accrues with the industry rather than a single employer, so moving between builders does not reset the clock. See portable long service leave. You cannot be paid twice for the same period of service.
Where to check your own entitlement
South Australia long service leave is administered by SafeWork SA, which is the authority of record for disputes and for any figure you intend to rely on. The calculator above estimates your balance under the Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA); where a number decides whether you resign or wait, confirm it with the authority or the Fair Work Ombudsman first.
Other SA entitlements
South Australia gazettes 13 public holidays in 2026, listed with penalty rates on SA public holidays. Construction, contract cleaning and security workers may instead accrue under a portable scheme that follows them between employers, explained in portable long service leave. Australian long service leave is state law, so the same career pays out very differently depending on where it was worked. The two ends of the range are Victoria, which pays an unconditional entitlement from 7 years, the earliest in the country, and South Australia, whose 13 weeks at 10 years is the largest statutory entitlement anywhere in Australia. South Australia sits at 13.00 weeks after 10 years. Every federal entitlement, including annual leave and personal leave, is identical in South Australia and is calculated on the annual leave calculator and the personal leave calculator. For everything owed when a job ends, use final pay. More SA entitlements are collected on the South Australia hub.