Industrial Relations

Long Service Leave

The Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Act provides for long service payments for workers in the NSW building and construction industry. The Long Service Payments Corporation is responsible for administering the Act.

Payments are for service to the industry instead of to an individual employer.

Individual workers have periods of employment in the building and construction industry recorded by the Corporation from information provided by their employers.

Employers are required to register with the Corporation and then advise the Corporation any time they start and end workers' entitlements. At the end of each financial year, the Corporation will send employers a list of all workers that are registered as working for them. The employer must check the list, confirm the details and return it to the Corporation.

Once this is done, all workers are sent an annual statement of service listing the periods of employment that have been added to their record. Workers are asked to check their statements carefully and notify the Corporation of any omissions or mistakes.

There is no cost for employers or workers to belong to the scheme. The scheme is funded by a levy on all building projects in NSW that cost more than $25,000.

Who is covered by the Act?

Employers

Employers covered by the Act are those who carry out construction, reconstruction, renovation, alteration, demolition, maintenance or repairs of or to any of the following:

Airfields, aqueducts, breakwaters, bridges, buildings, chimney stacks, cooling towers, docks, drilling rigs, fences, gas holders, works for water supply or storage, harbour/river or water course improvements for the purpose of navigation, jetties, irrigation works, navigational lights/beacons or markers, piers, pile driving, pipelines, railways, roads, sewerage works, silos, swimming pools, transmission of electric power, transmission of wireless or telegraphic communications, tunnels, viaducts and wharves.

It includes structures, fixtures or works for use in or in conjunction with any of the above and site preparation.

Work is not restricted to onsite work, it also includes offsite work, eg joinery workshop making custom kitchen cabinets.

Workers

Workers covered by the Act are those engaged under a contract of employment (employees) who perform building and construction work.

The following list is indicative of the type of work classification covered by the scheme:

Bricklayer, bridge and wharf carpenter, builder's labourer, carpenter, construction labourer, drainer, electrician, gas fitter, glazier, jointer, lofty crane driver, painter, plant operator, plasterer, plumber, roof tiler, signwriter, slater, stone mason, tile layer.

Foreman, sub foreman, leading hands, apprentices and assistants can also be covered.

Who is not covered by the Act?

State, local and commonwealth government employees are not covered by the Act.

Also some workers employed by employers in the building and construction industry are not eligible to join the scheme. Examples of these workers are:

Clerical and administrative staff, surveyors, estimators, project managers, architects and any other workers who do not physically perform building and construction work.

Metal workers are only eligible to record service with the scheme for periods when they work on major construction sites. Metal trades work performed in a factory or on a domestic site is not covered by the scheme.

Are you registered as an employer?

If you employ workers on wages who are covered by the Act, you must register with the Corporation as an employer.

If you are a sole trader or member of a partnership, and you employ workers on wages to do building and construction work for you, you must register as an employer.

If you are not currently registered as an employer with the Corporation, you can do this by:

The Internet

Go to website http://www.lspc.nsw.gov.auand click on the log-in link; or

Phone the Helpline on 13 14 14

and ask for an Application for Employer Registration to be mailed to you.

Employer Guide (494 KB)

Long Service Leave Calculator (43 KB)