In Tasmania the reason your job ends decides whether anything is paid before 10 years of continuous employment. The Long Service Leave Act 1976 (Tas) lists the grounds that qualify, and it treats a public holiday inside your leave as a day that is not leave at all.
8⅔ weeks after 10 years
then 4⅓ weeks for each further 5 years, with pro rata from 7 completed years on the grounds in section 8(3)
The grounds that make early leaving pay
Pro rata leave in Tasmania starts at 7 completed years, and only for the employees section 8(3) describes (s 8(2)(b)). The Act names four cases, each in a paragraph of its own and quoted below. Meeting any one is enough.
- Reaching the age for retirement:
an employee who attains the age for retirement
(s 8(3)(a)) - Illness that justifies ending the employment:
an employee whose employment is terminated on account of illness of such a nature as to justify the termination of that employment
(s 8(3)(b)) - Leaving because you cannot go on:
an employee who terminates his employment on account of incapacity or domestic or other pressing necessity of such a nature as to justify the termination
(s 8(3)(c)) - Being dismissed for anything short of serious and wilful misconduct:
an employee whose employment is terminated by his employer for any reason other than the serious and wilful misconduct of the employee
(s 8(3)(d))
The list is closed. Read as a whole, section 8(3) leaves out other resignations, and serious and wilful misconduct (s 8(3)). So a resignation to take a better job, or to move interstate by choice, earns nothing under the Act before the full entitlement, however close to it you are. Redundancy falls under the employer ground and is paid. WorkSafe Tasmania's guide stresses that the exception needs termination for serious and wilful misconduct (WorkSafe Tasmania).
The regulator's guide sums up the grounds this way, and adds the age it reads into the retirement ground (WorkSafe Tasmania).
- Retirement age (60 for women, 65 for men), death, or termination by the employer other than for serious and wilful misconduct
If an employee dies in this band, the Act pays the employee's personal representatives for the leave (s 9(2)(b)).
Who decides whether a ground applies
Whether an illness justified the termination, or whether a domestic necessity was pressing enough, turns on the facts. If you and your employer cannot agree, the matter goes to WorkSafe Tasmania, then the Tasmanian Industrial Commission (WorkSafe Tasmania).
How the weeks are counted
The pro rata amount is a share of the opening block, and WorkSafe Tasmania works it out as years of employment divided by 10, multiplied by 8⅔ weeks (WorkSafe Tasmania). Part years count, unlike South Australia and the Northern Territory, where only completed years do, and the ACT, where only completed years and months do.
Worked example: resigning to care for a parent
You started on 1 March 2017 and resign on 1 September 2025 because your father needs full-time care. That is 8 years and 184 days of continuous employment. The part year counts as its share of that year of service, which is 365 days long: that is how the calculator on this page counts it. If that is accepted as a pressing domestic necessity under section 8(3)(c), the share of the opening block is 7.37 weeks (our arithmetic: (completed years from 1 March 2017 to 1 September 2025 + days from 1 March 2025 to 1 September 2025 ÷ days from 1 March 2025 to 1 March 2026) ÷ 10 years × 8⅔ weeks after 10 years = 7.37 weeks).
Had you left on the same day to start a new job, no ground in section 8(3) would apply and the Act would give nothing for those years.
After you reach the full entitlement, the leave grows by 4⅓ weeks for each further 5 years (s 8(2)(a)(ii)). When employment ends between blocks, the years since the last one are paid in proportion (s 8(2)(a)(iii)). At that stage every reason for leaving is paid, misconduct included, with the leave treated as starting on termination, at ordinary pay (s 12(4)).
Worked example: dismissed after the full entitlement
You started on 13 January 2014, never took long service leave, and your employment ends on 13 January 2026 after 12 years. You have the opening block, and the years since it add their share: 10⅖ weeks (our arithmetic: 8⅔ weeks after 10 years + (completed years from 13 January 2014 to 13 January 2026 − 10 years) ÷ 10 years × 8⅔ weeks after 10 years = 10⅖ weeks) in all.
On ordinary pay of $1,250.00 a week, that is $13,000.00 (our arithmetic: (8⅔ weeks after 10 years + (completed years from 13 January 2014 to 13 January 2026 − 10 years) ÷ 10 years × 8⅔ weeks after 10 years) × $1,250.00 = $13,000.00). The reason for the dismissal does not change the figure at this length of service.
Public holidays lengthen the leave
Tasmania does not let a public holiday eat into long service leave. Section 12(9) is clear: Long service leave under this Act is not inclusive of any trade holiday, public holiday, statutory holiday as defined in the Statutory Holidays Act 2000
(s 12(9)).
Take a block of leave that runs from late November into January. Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day all fall inside it, and none of them is used up as leave, so the leave ends later than the bare count of weeks would suggest.
Asking for and taking the leave
The Act sets no notice period, with leave granted as soon as practicable, having regard to the needs of the business (s 12(1)). The leave goes in one period, or 2 by agreement (s 12(5)).
Cashing in is a matter for the two of you: the Act allows payment instead of leave by agreement (s 10). Section 17 adds that no agreement can exclude the Act (s 17).
What keeps employment continuous
Annual leave, certified sick leave, jury service and a dismissal made to avoid leave obligations all leave your employment unbroken and are counted, as WorkSafe Tasmania's guide sets out (WorkSafe Tasmania). Under section 5(1), employment stays continuous through listed absences, and re-employment within 3 months (s 5(1)(g)). A second group keeps the chain intact but adds no time: section 5(2) covers absences that keep continuity but do not count as employment (s 5(2)).
Casual and part-time employees
The Act defines an employee as any person employed for hire or reward, so casual work is covered (s 2(1)). Section 5(3) adds a test of regularity for irregular work: in WorkSafe Tasmania's words, regular work of 32 hours or more in each 4 weeks counts as continuous employment (WorkSafe Tasmania).
When hours vary, pay for the leave is based on average weekly hours over the previous 12 months (s 11(6)). The guide's shortcut is total hours over the past 12 months divided by 52 (WorkSafe Tasmania). The casual and part-time guide compares this test with the other states.
What ordinary pay includes
Ordinary pay under section 11(1) is what the employee could expect to have received at work (s 11(1)). WorkSafe Tasmania's guide counts pay including shift penalties and casual loading (WorkSafe Tasmania). So shift penalties stay in your leave pay in Tasmania, where in South Australia they drop out. The Act sets aside discretionary bonuses and similar payments (s 11(2)(h)).
Mining employees
Section 8A gives mining employees a separate, larger scale of 13 weeks for every 10 years in mining (s 8A(2)(a)(i)). The year bars and the calculator above use the general scale in section 8; for a mining employee, section 8A of the Long Service Leave Act 1976 sets the amounts instead.
Disputes, and where to get help
The Act splits the work between the Secretary, the Commission and a magistrate (ss 13 and 15). A magistrate's order reaches back only to amounts due in the 3 years before the application (s 15(1)). The penalty for breaching the Act is up to 20 penalty units (s 20(1)).
WorkSafe Tasmania is the first contact; its pages on Long service leave and Pro rata long service leave cover the rules above.
Who the Act does not reach
The Act does not apply to State employees and some local government employees (s 3). Whether a federal award or agreement takes its place is covered in the national overview. Construction workers are in the portable scheme run by TasBuild: see portable long service leave (TasBuild).
Sources
- Long Service Leave Act 1976, Tasmanian Legislation Online. Checked .
- Pro rata long service leave, WorkSafe Tasmania. Checked .
- Long service leave, WorkSafe Tasmania. Checked .
- Tasmania's Portable Long Service Leave Scheme, TasBuild Limited. Checked .