The new Long Service Leave Act 2018 for Victoria was activated on 1st November 2018. Employees in Victoria who were previously covered by the Long Service Leave Act 1992, can now enjoy several improvements regarding this leave entitlement. These improvements are discussed in this blog.
How will Victorian employees benefit from the new LSL Act 2018?
The changes to the LSL Act 2018 Victoria as listed below, provide a fairer playing ground for women and families in particular. For the first time, parental leave and unpaid leave will now count towards an employee’s period of service and most work absences taken will not break that period of service, as has been the case in the past. There are other positive changes for employees as outlined below:
- The first and most significant change to LSL in Victoria is that employees can now request LSL after 7 years continuous service – under the previous act, this did not occur until the 10 year mark.
- Full time, part time, casual and seasonal employees are entitled to LSL, provided they have completed 7 years of continuous service with one employer. (There must not be an absence of more than 12 weeks between any two periods of employment for casual or seasonal employees)
- Paid and unpaid absences, including parental leave of up to 52 weeks will now count towards an employee’s period of continuous service in terms of accruing LSL. Paid absences include annual leave, carer’s leave and long service leave.
- Even though parental leave beyond 52 weeks does not count towards employment service, the absence will not break the continuity of employment.
- Employees can request to take just one day of LSL if required (but not less than than one day).
- Employees can take LSL for a period which is twice as long as their LSL available, at half their ordinary pay.
- Employees may request to take LSL in advance i.e. before the 7 year period matures.
- Employers cannot refuse an employee’s request for LSL unless there are reasonable business reasons to do so.
- Employees and employers can agree to allow LSL is taken under various circumstances as long as it is put in writing and both parties agree (and it doesn’t contravene an award or other industrial instrument).
[easy-tweet tweet=”The first and most significant change to LSL in Victoria is that employees can now request LSL after 7 years continuous service – under the previous act, this did not occur until the 10 year mark.” hashtags=”#LSLVictoria2018″]
More from Business Victoria
Go to the Business Victoria website for further information about the new Long Service Leave Act 2018 in Victoria including various fact sheets and a useful LSL calculator.
One last thing…
The changes to LSL in Victoria apply to any business based outside of Victoria which employs staff who live and work in Victoria.
