Qualifying service

An employee accrues leave hours for each week during which they are an eligible employee. An eligible employee is entitled to take leave after eight years of qualifying service. Qualifying service is service as an eligible employee of one or more employers*. It does not include certain absences.

Leave accrues for qualifying service and is calculated in hours, not days or weeks:

• Full-time employee – 455 hours after eight years’ qualifying service.

• Part-time employee – accrues at a rate which reflects the number of hours worked each week. The maximum accrual is the equivalent of a full-time employee.

• Casual employee – accrues at a rate which reflects the number of hours worked each week, averaged over the weeks worked in a quarter. The maximum accrual is the equivalent of a full-time employee.

For service since 1 January 2012, all service as an eligible employee counts towards their qualifying service, unless they stopped being an eligible employee for eight continuous years or more (a break period). In most cases, any services before a break period will stop being counted as qualifying service.

Prior to 1 January 2012, the allowable break period to maintain continuous service was 3 months. 

In some instances, the 8-year allowable break period can retrospectively be applied to service between 1 January 2000 and January 2012; this is dependent on the legislation in place at the time, and how it relates to your record. 

*The definition of ‘employer’ in Coal LSL’s legislation refers only to a national system employer as defined in section 14 of the Fair Work Act 2009.