Employers must keep employee records relating to long service leave throughout a worker’s service.

The employer must keep these records for at least 3 years following the termination of the workers employment (whether by resignation, retirement or other form of termination). There are penalties for failure by the employer to maintain these records.

A worker is also entitled to inspect their records during normal office hours.

Record of commencement of service

Upon commencement of a worker's employment, an employer must keep a record of:

  • the worker's full name
  • date of commencement of service
  • the worker's occupation and/or duties
  • the projected date of the worker's entitlement to long service leave
  • whether the worker's right to leave is determined by reference to the Act
    • if not, a record of the award, agreement or scheme by which leave is determined
    • date of relevant South Australian Employment Tribunal determination (as applicable).

Record of worker absences

For each period a worker is absent from work, an employer must keep a record of:

  • the start and end date of the absence
  • the number of days absent
  • the reason for absence
  • whether the worker's entitlement date is affected by the absence
    • if the entitlement date is affected, the new entitlement date.

Refer to our Accruing leave page for a list of absences that do and do not affect a worker's entitlement date.

Record of long service leave entitlement

Every 12 months the employer must record a worker's:

  • rate of pay
  • normal/usual hours (excluding overtime) worked each week in preceding 12 months
    • if there are no normal/usual weekly hours (i.e. for casual or part-time workers), all hours worked each week must be noted for the purposes of calculating an average number of hours worked per week
  • entitlement to long service leave
  • number of long service leave days taken (or payment in lieu) made by agreement (including record of leave setting out start and end date of leave).

Record of termination

When the service of a worker is terminated (whether initiated by the employee – through resignation, retirement etc – or the employer), the employer must keep a record of:

  • the date of termination
  • the period of notice
  • the reason for / manner of termination
  • any long service leave entitlement (expressed in weeks or to express a fraction of a week, in hours)
  • any payment of entitlement made (the value of the payment must be recorded in dollar amounts)
  • the date the payment of entitlement was made to the worker.

Template

If you do not have a system that can promptly and accurately, keep wages, leave or other similar records, either in hard copy or electronic form, you can use our records template for this purpose. We also have a completed sample that shows you how to the employee record.


Questions about your long service leave?

If you have read all the long service leave information on our website and you still have questions or concerns about your entitlements, please follow the below options.

For employees and employers: If you have further questions about long service leave, please contact our Help Centre by calling 1300 365 255 or emailing help.safework@sa.gov.au

For employees only: If you are a worker and are in a disagreement with your employer regarding long service leave, please submit a Long Service Leave claim form.

Page last updated: 22 April 2022