Long service leave in Tasmania (2026–27): 8.67 weeks after 10 years

Accrued weeks and payout on $1,500/week

The smallest jurisdiction, and the transfer-of-business question

Tasmania gives 8.67 weeks at 10 years with a conditional pro-rata from 7, the mainstream model. What makes the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (Tas) distinctive in practice is the size of the labour market it governs: in a state where a large share of employment sits in businesses that change hands, are absorbed by mainland groups or operate seasonally, the questions that decide a long service leave claim are almost always about continuity of service rather than the rate of accrual. An employee whose employer has been bought twice in twelve years still has twelve years of service if the work continued — and that is the point on which Tasmanian claims most often turn.

The accrual column assumes continuous service with one employer or its successors. In Tasmania that assumption is the one to test first: 0.8667 weeks a year is not in dispute, but the number of years frequently is. A transfer of business, a change of entity within a group, or a re-engagement after a short break all preserve service, and the payout columns are worthless if the start date is wrong.

Payment on termination in Tasmania

After 7 years: pro-rata if terminated by the employer (not serious and wilful misconduct) or the employee leaves for illness, incapacity or domestic/pressing necessity. After 10 years: any termination. Tasmania's threshold pattern means the period between 7 and 10 years carries the same asymmetry as Queensland's: a redundancy pays the accrued balance, an ordinary resignation pays nothing. For seasonal employees — the state's agriculture, aquaculture and tourism sectors run on them — the question of whether the season-to-season gap breaks continuity decides whether the employee is inside that window at all. The Act allows regular seasonal engagement to count as continuous service, with limits on the length of the break.

Service that survives a change of employer

Tasmanian service is preserved in three distinct situations that are worth separating. Service with a related corporation counts as service with the one employer, so movement inside a group is continuous. Where a business is transmitted and the employee is retained by the new owner, service with the old owner counts against the new one; the employee does not restart. And a dismissal followed by re-engagement within the period the Act allows does not break continuity, which covers the seasonal pattern and short-term stand-downs. What does break service is a genuine resignation followed by a fresh engagement, however short the gap — the distinction between being let go and leaving is as consequential for continuity as it is for the pro-rata payment itself.

TasBuild

TasBuild administers portable long service leave for the Tasmanian building and construction industry, funded by an employer levy and accruing across employers within the scheme. As in the other states, coverage follows the work rather than the contract, and employees of labour-hire and subcontracting businesses supplying construction work are commonly within it. Where TasBuild covers the service, the entitlement is claimed from the fund; the employer's own obligation under the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (Tas) does not run in parallel for the same period.

Recovering long service leave in Tasmania

The Department of Justice administers the Long Service Leave Act 1976 (Tas) and provides guidance and an inspectorate; unpaid entitlements can be recovered in the Magistrates Court. Employers are required to keep records of service sufficient to establish an employee's entitlement, and an employee may request a statement of accrued leave. Where an employer has ceased to exist — a common situation in a small market after a sale or a liquidation — the claim lies against the successor where the business transferred, which is again a question of continuity rather than of entitlement.

The rules common to all eight jurisdictions — what counts as continuous service, the rate of pay the leave is paid at, and how leave is taken while employed — are set out in the long service leave guide. The final pay calculator adds the result to redundancy, notice and annual leave.