Under Australian law, most employees are entitled to long service leave if they work for the same employer for a prolonged length of time, the threshold usually being between seven and ten years.
[citation needed] Australian long service legislation is currently in a transitional state, pending development of a uniform national standard.
[1] For all other employees, minimum entitlements are derived from the relevant state or territory long service leave laws.
[1] See below for a high level summary of long service leave legislation in each state or territory: Within a limited number of industries, such as construction, coal mining, contract cleaning industries and the public sector, it is possible to transfer long-service leave entitlements from one employer to another, as long as the employee remains in the same state.
Known as portable long service leave this is done mostly through specific legislated schemes which employers in those industries pay into, and which administer the funds for employees.
[17] Long service leave is a benefit peculiar to Australia (and possibly some civil servants in India), and arises from the colonial heritage of each country.
The nature of the leave allowed public servants, after 10 years' service, to sail "home" to England or elsewhere, safe in the knowledge that they would be able to resume their positions upon their return to Australia.