Guide
Casual long service leave: what each state gives casual workers
Updated
A casual earns long service leave on the same years as anyone else; what decides it is whether the gaps between shifts broke the service.
Talk to a specialist Weeks accrued, what you can take now, and what is payable if you left today.
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How this calculator works
- Long service leave in Australia is state and territory legislation, not federal: there is no single national entitlement, and this site does not publish one. The Fair Work Ombudsman says those laws set most employees' entitlement: how long you must work and how much you get (Fair Work Ombudsman: long service leave).
- New South Wales: the Long Service Leave Act 1955 gives full-time, part-time and casual workers 2 months (8.67 weeks) paid leave after 10 years' continuous service. Each further 5 years adds a month, which is 4 1/3 weeks. Pro-rata applies from 5 years only for a qualifying reason, and from 10 for any (NSW Industrial Relations).
- Victoria: most workers qualify after 7 years with one employer. Leave accrues at one week per 60 weeks of continuous service, about 0.866 of a week each year. No payment is due if employment ends before 7 years. From 7 years the full accrued but untaken entitlement is payable however employment ends (Workforce Inspectorate Victoria).
- Queensland: employees take 8.6667 weeks after 10 years' continuous service, and 4.3333 more after another 5 (13 in total). Beyond 15 years, leave can be taken as it accrues. Under 7 years there is none; from 7 to 10 years a pro-rata termination payment needs a qualifying reason, and from 10 it is automatic (Business Queensland).
- The accrual rate works out at about 0.867 of a week a year in all three states, so the weeks accrued column is effectively common ground. Everything that actually differs is in the qualifying period and the termination rules, which is why this calculator reports those separately.
- This tool covers NSW, Victoria and Queensland because those are the three schemes we have read end to end. The ACT, Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia have their own Acts with different qualifying periods and accrual rates, and we do not guess at them. The by-state guide names the responsible agency for each.
- Separate portable long service leave schemes apply in several industries, including building and construction, contract cleaning and community services. The black coal mining industry runs a national scheme through Coal LSL. If you have changed employers within one of those industries your entitlement may not come from the general state Act at all.
- Some employees take long service leave from a pre-modern award or an enterprise agreement instead of the state Act. The Fair Work Ombudsman says state and territory long service leave laws do not apply where entitlements sit in a federal pre-modern award covering the employer before 1 January 2010.
- Ordinary pay is defined differently in each state, and generally excludes overtime and shift penalties. NSW additionally takes the higher of ordinary remuneration at the prescribed date and the average over the previous five years for some workers. The single weekly figure here is an approximation: verify the rate before relying on a dollar amount.
- Continuous service is not the same as elapsed time. Agreed unpaid leave and unpaid parental leave commonly do not count as service in NSW even though they do not break it, which pushes a milestone later. Absences for illness or injury generally do count. Check your own absences against your state's rules before trusting a milestone date.
Do casuals get long service leave?
Yes, in every state whose regulator we read, all read 24 to 30 October 2026:
- NSW Industrial Relations states that the Act covers full-time, part-time and casual workers.
- Workforce Inspectorate Victoria includes casual, seasonal and fixed term work.
- SafeWork SA states that casual workers employed under a contract or a series of contracts can accrue an entitlement.
- Private Sector Labour Relations WA names full time, part time, casual and seasonal employees.
- WorkSafe Tasmania includes casuals in its pro-rata rule.
Casual long service leave by state
| State | Casual rule published by the regulator |
|---|---|
| New South Wales | Casuals covered. NSW Industrial Relations publishes separate guidance on assessing absences for casual workers |
| Victoria | Service is continuous if there is no absence of more than 12 weeks between engagements, with exceptions including seasonal work and up to 104 weeks of parental leave |
| Queensland | Continuous service may end if broken by more than 3 months between contracts; entitlement worked in hours |
| South Australia | Casuals under a contract or series of contracts can accrue an entitlement |
| Western Australia | Casual and seasonal employees accrue 8.667 weeks at 10 years of continuous employment |
| Tasmania | Casuals may be entitled to a pro-rata payment on termination after 7 years |
| ACT and Northern Territory | Not published on the pages we read; ask WorkSafe ACT or the NT Government |
How casual long service leave is calculated
Because a casual's week is not fixed, the leave is worked out from hours. Business Queensland's formula: total ordinary hours worked over the period of continuous service, divided by 52, multiplied by 8.6667, divided by 10.
Its example of 15,600 ordinary hours over 10 years gives 260.001 hours of leave, paid at the casual's loaded hourly rate (Business Queensland). The calculator on this site works in weeks: for a casual, enter your average ordinary weekly pay over the period.
Who counts as a casual
SafeWork SA describes a casual as an employee who accepts a job knowing there is no firm advance commitment to ongoing work or a regular pattern of work. It notes that someone working fixed days and hours may in fact be part-time. The label on the contract does not decide the long service leave question; continuity of service does.
If your work has had gaps of several weeks or months, ask your state agency how those gaps are counted before relying on any figure, including this site's.