Government moves to reduce Long Service Leave for public sector workers

Buried deep within this year’s state budget papers was a casual remark about future savings to the budget by reducing long service leave (LSL) entitlements for public sector workers. while this was troubling, no one around the union movement knew anything about it until the government introduced a bill.

The bill, if passed by both houses of parliament, will significantly reduce all future (those starting from July 1 2019 to be exact) NSW public sector workers’ LSL entitlements. Here’s what the bill says:

‘to reduce extended leave entitlements for public sector employees who are employed on or after 1 July 2019 from 5 months on full pay proportionate to each 10 years of service, after the first 10 years of service, to 3 months on full pay proportionate to each of those additional 10 years of service’

So as a current public sector worker, you accrue 5 months of leave every 10 years after you reach the initial 10-year mark. This bill seeks to reduce it to 3 months every 10 years for new starters.

To read the full extent of the move, please click here.