13. Industrial

F. Leave entitlements

See also the Awards section of this text.
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i.  Legislation

New South Wales:
Contract Cleaning Industry (Portable Long Service Leave Scheme) Act 2010 (NSW) amended by the COVID-19 Legislation Amendment (Emergency Measures—Miscellaneous) Act 2020​ (NSW).

Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW) amended by:
  • Treasury Legislation Amendment (COVID-19) Act 2020 No 2 (NSW): provides that a registered worker for the contract cleaning industry who has five years of recognised service and who has permanently left the industry is entitled to payment instead of long service leave during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the registered worker would only be entitled to this payment if 20 weeks had passed since the worker left the industry and the worker had not been credited with service in the Long Service Corporation’s workers register for any days during that period.
  • COVID-19 Legislation Amendment (Emergency Measures—Miscellaneous) Act 2020 (NSW):  inserts two new provisions into the Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW). Proposed s 15B allows an employer and worker to agree to accrued long service leave being taken over multiple periods of not less than one day (for example, four periods, each being two days, in consecutive weeks) during the prescribed period. Proposed s 15C ensures that a worker’s long service leave continues to accrue during any period in the specified COVID-19 pandemic period during which the worker is stood down without pay as a direct or indirect result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Queensland:
Justice and Other Legislation (COVID-19 Emergency Response) Amendment Act 2020 (Qld):​
​​Australian Capital Territory:
Long Service Leave Act 1976 (ACT) amended by:​
Long Service Leave (Portable Schemes) Act 2009 (ACT) amended by:
Made under the Long Service Leave (Portable Schemes) Act:
ii.  Case law

​Proceedings relating to Qantas’s refusal to allow employees to access personal leave, where they have been stood down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, are pending in multiple fora: Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union v Qantas Airways Ltd [2020] FWC 1789, [6]-[9]. The Fair Work Commission has remarked upon the undesirability of claims in relation to the same issue proceeding before both the Commission and the Federal Court: Australian Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union v Qantas Airways Ltd [2020] FWC 1789, [7].