Victoria's Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic) has no pro rata band and no list of reasons for leaving. After 7 years of continuous employment with one employer you have leave (s 6). It grows at the same rate for every week you work, and whatever the reason your job ends, what has built up is paid out on your last day.
7 years
of continuous employment with one employer, after which leave builds with every week you work
One fraction for the whole period
Section 6 states the amount as a share of your service rather than a block of weeks: 1/60 of the period of continuous employment, less any long service leave already taken. The same fraction runs through all of your continuous employment, so there are no stepped blocks as in some other states (s 6).
To use it, turn your service into weeks, apply the fraction and take off any long service leave already used. The government converts years into weeks the way its own example below shows.
Worked example: resigning after 7 years and 6 months
This is the government's own example. Jacqui resigns after 7 years and 6 months of continuous employment and has taken no long service leave. Her leave is 6½ weeks (our arithmetic: (7 × 52 + 26) × 1/60 = 6½ weeks). The official page reaches the same answer, 6½ weeks (Workforce Inspectorate Victoria).
She resigned to take another job. In Victoria that changes nothing: the payment is due because she passed the qualifying period, not because of why she left.
When the job ends, for any reason
Section 9(1) treats the last day of work as the day leave starts. What you get is the full amount, due on the last day of work (s 9(1)).
Section 9(1)
the employee is taken to have started long service leave on the day on which the employment ends
(s 9(1))
Section 9 makes no exception for dismissal for serious misconduct or for resigning. Payment on every ending from 7 years sets Victoria apart from every jurisdiction except the ACT. Business Victoria's guide says the payment is made on resignation, dismissal, redundancy or death (Business Victoria). If an employee dies before taking all their leave, section 10 has the employer pay the full amount to the employee's personal representative (s 9(1), s 10(1)).
Worked example: dismissed after eleven years
You started on 11 August 2014 and were dismissed, with your last day on 11 August 2025: 11 years of continuous employment, with no long service leave taken. The leave is 9.53 weeks (our arithmetic: completed years from 11 August 2014 to 11 August 2025 × 52 × 1/60 = 9.53 weeks).
At ordinary pay of $1,620.00 a week, the payment due on the last day comes to $15,444.00 (our arithmetic: completed years from 11 August 2014 to 11 August 2025 × 52 × 1/60 × $1,620.00 = $15,444.00). The reason for the dismissal does not reduce it under section 9.
Short of the qualifying period
Nothing is payable for any ending before 7 years of continuous employment, whatever the reason (Workforce Inspectorate Victoria). The government's second example shows it: no payment after 6 years and 11 months.
How the other states treat the same facts is set out on our pro rata page.
Asking for leave, being directed, and half pay
Victoria gives the employee the first move. Leave starts in one of two ways: a request, or an employer direction on 12 weeks' notice (ss 18–19). The employer must respond to a request as soon as practicable, with approval unless there are reasonable business grounds (s 18(2)).
Section 22 allows twice the period at half pay, on request. In the Act's words, the leave becomes twice as long as the period to which the employee would otherwise be entitled
(s 22(1)).
Worked example: taking leave at half pay
Take the employee in the example above, but still employed at eleven years of service, as at 11 August 2025, with no leave taken. At full pay the leave is 9.53 weeks (our arithmetic: completed years from 11 August 2014 to 11 August 2025 × 52 × 1/60 = 9.53 weeks). Asked for at half pay, it becomes 19.07 weeks (our arithmetic: completed years from 11 August 2014 to 11 August 2025 × 52 × 1/60 × 2 = 19.07 weeks) away from work, paid at half the ordinary weekly rate, so the total paid is the same.
Two rules protect the length of the break. With public holidays and annual leave not counted as leave, neither eats into it (s 7). While you stay, swapping leave for money is the exception, not the rule: there is no cash-out unless an Act or fair work instrument permits it (s 34(1)).
Gaps, unpaid leave and coming back
- Re-employment. If the employer ends your employment and takes you back, re-employment within 12 weeks keeps your earlier years in the count (s 12(6)).
- Unpaid leave. A period of up to 52 weeks of unpaid leave counts as employment (s 13(1)). A longer career break taken as unpaid leave does not break continuity, but usually only its first part adds to the total.
The calculator's break field is for weeks that do not count, so it takes only the part of an unpaid absence beyond that limit.
Casual, seasonal and changing hours
The Act's definition of an employee includes casual and seasonal employees, so a run of casual or seasonal work with one employer builds leave in the same way as permanent work (s 3). Where hours or pay changed over time, the Act does not simply take your last week: the rate is the greatest of the 52-week, 260-week and overall averages (s 15(2), s 16(2)). That protects someone who moved from full-time to part-time hours late in their employment. The general rules on casual engagements across the states are on our casual and part-time page.
What you are paid during the leave
The Act sets the rate as pay at normal weekly hours and the ordinary time rate (s 15(1)). Your rate on the day leave starts is the starting point, not an average over the years; where your hours varied, the averaging rule in the section above sets the hours used.
Getting help: the Inspectorate and the court
The regulator is Workforce Inspectorate Victoria, which investigates reports about businesses withholding long service leave. Reports go through Long service leave: make an enquiry or report (Workforce Inspectorate Victoria). You can also call 1800 287 287 (Business Victoria).
The government's guidance is that you can claim unpaid long service leave yourself in the Industrial Division of the Magistrates' Court (Workforce Inspectorate Victoria).
For a first estimate, the government points to the Business Victoria calculator (Workforce Inspectorate Victoria). The calculator's own page asks for results to be checked by an independent party (Business Victoria). The Long Service Leave Act 2018 on the Victorian legislation site is Authorised Version No. 006, as at 12 December 2025.
Workers in the construction industry, and in community services, contract cleaning and security, may have a portable scheme as well; see portable long service leave.
Sources
- Long Service Leave Act 2018, Victorian Government (Parliamentary Counsel). Checked .
- Long service leave, Workforce Inspectorate Victoria. Checked .
- Long service leave: employment termination, Business Victoria. Checked .
- Long service leave: make an enquiry or report, Workforce Inspectorate Victoria. Checked .
- Calculate long service leave, Business Victoria. Checked .
- How LeavePlus works, LeavePlus (CoINVEST Limited). Checked .
- About the Portable Long Service Authority, Portable Long Service Authority (Victoria). Checked .