Leave Arrangements for Work/Family/Personal Life Balance

Long service leave is designed to provide employees with the opportunity to take an extended paid break from their employment in recognition of many years service with the University of Ballarat.

After ten years employment with the University you are entitled to 13 weeks long service leave, which continues to accrue at the rate of 1.3 weeks per year for every additional year of service. Such leave will be paid to you at your normal rate of pay if you have consistently worked at the same time fraction during your employment or the average of the time fractions worked over your period of employment if your fraction has varied. After ten years of service you may select to take your leave in part or as a whole. Long Service leave credits may be transfered from or to other employers in some circumstances. For information specific to you please read the relevant information below.

You may take long service leave on full pay or, or at your request, it can be taken on half pay for all or part of the leave. You can take all or part of your long service leave at one time, normally with a minimum period of one month being taken at any one time. However, smaller periods of long service leave may be taken, but will need to be approved by the relevant supervisor.

Long service leave needs to be taken at a mutually agreeable time. You can elect to take the long service leave straight away (ie when you have worked ten years) or you can wait until a more suitable time for you personally, or to fit in with your working environment. You need to discuss arrangements with your supervisor and, in the case of General and Academic staff, give at leave six months notice in writing. No such notice period is stipulated for TAFE teachers, however the University guideline is a minimum of three months notice of an intention to take long service leave.

Long service leave is an entitlement which can be used in conjunction with other forms of leave eg Maternity Leave to cover the extended period of time where otherwise it would be Unpaid Leave.

Please note that these entitlements may vary depending on the negotiated terms of your Australian Workplace Agreement.

What you need to do when planning for your Long Service Leave

• Fully understand your long service leave entitlements, including whether any credits are transferable from previous workplaces.
• See links below and/or discuss your situation and plans confidentially with Carole van Beek, Senior Payroll Officer on ext. 9519 c.vanbeek@ballarat.edu.au or Jeneine Hevey, Payroll Officer on ext. 9251 or j.hevey@ballarat.edu.au
• If you are thinking of going on long service leave at half pay, consider the financial and superannuation implications, and if desired discuss with your financial advisor and/or your relevant superannuation fund.
• Negotiate arrangements with your supervisor.
• Give at least six months written notice, in the case of General and Academic staff.
• Apply in writing to Head of School/Director or the Vice-Chancellor.

Long Service Leave - Academic and General Staff
University of Ballarat, Union Collective Agreement 2006-2008(Academic & General Staff)
Link to: Clause 53

Recognition of Prior Service For the Purposes of Sick Leave and Long Service Leave Credits - Academic & General Staff
University of Ballarat - Union Collective Agreement 2006-2008 (Academic & General Staff)
Link to: Clause 58

Long Service Leave - TAFE Teaching Staff
AW816514 - TAFE Teachers' Conditions of Employment (Victoria) Award 2002
Link to: Clause 26

53. Long Service Leave - Academic and General Staff
University of Ballarat, Union Collective Agreement 2006-2008

53.1 An employee (other than a casual/sessional) shall be entitled to long-service leave of thirteen weeks after ten years' service and at the rate of 1.3 weeks for every additional year of service thereafter. Such leave shall be on full pay, provided that the employee may elect to convert all or part of the period of entitlements to double the period by taking leave on half pay.

53.2 An employee granted long-service leave shall be paid the following rate of pay:

53.2.1 where the employee's service has been constant on a full-time or part-time basis, the leave shall be paid at the employee's ordinary rate of pay;

53.2.2 where the employee's service has been other than constant, the leave shall be paid at a rate of pay based on the employee's mean average fraction calculated over the total period of recognised service.

53.3 For the purposes of determining an employee's entitlement to long-service leave, the following shall not count as service:

53.3.1 any period of service after the date from which a pension is payable under the provisions of the Superannuation Act or of such other pension schemes as may apply where the employee retires on the grounds of age or ill-health; or

53.3.2 any period of service for which payment in lieu of long-service leave has been made by a previous employer, or for which an employee has an entitlement to payment in lieu by a previous employer, provided that any such period of service shall be included for the purpose of satisfying the requirement in sub-clause 53.1 that a minimum of ten years be served before long service leave may be taken;

53.3.3 any break in service with previous recognised employers as specified in Clause 58 that exceeds six months.

53.4 An employee shall be entitled to have service with previous recognised employers as specified in Clause 58 recognised for the purpose of determining the long-service leave entitlement of the employee provided that:

53.4.1 an employee shall make any claim for recognition of prior service within six months of the date of appointment. The University shall, as soon as possible after the date of the employee's appointment, but no later than twelve months from that date, notify the employee in writing as to the amount of prior service recognised for the purposes of long-service leave. The University shall provide details of the process for the recognition of prior service to the employee in the letter of appointment;

53.4.2 the amount of service with previous employers recognised for long-service leave purposes shall not exceed ten years.

53.5 Where service with a previous recognised employer as specified in Clause 58 is recognised for long-service leave credit, the University may require that a period of service with the University of not greater than three years be completed before an employee is eligible to take long-service leave.

53.6 Subject to sub-clause 53.7, an employee with ten or more years of service shall be entitled to take long-service leave at a time of his or her choosing provided that at least six months' written notice is given by the employee of the intention to take such leave or, in the absence of such notice, the relevant delegated supervisor is satisfied that alternative arrangements can be made to cover the workload of the employee.

Notwithstanding the above, where a further employee(s) from the same work area subsequently applies to take long-service leave which partially or completely overlaps with the same period of leave already granted to an employee within the work area, approval of such leave shall be subject to the operational requirements of the work area. However, such leave shall not be refused unless the relevant delegated supervisor provides written reasons why operational requirements will be adversely affected by the taking of the leave.

53.7 Where an employee has a long-service leave balance of 97.5 days or more, the University may give the employee written notice to take up to three months of such leave, at a time suitable to the University's operational requirements. Provided that:

53.7.1 the University shall give the employee written notice at least twelve months before the date on which the leave must commence;

53.7.2 the employee shall not be required to take long service within 24 months of the intended date of the employee's retirement;

53.7.3 the minimum period of leave that the University can require an employee to take shall be thirty days;

53.7.4 in any case where an employee has taken long-service leave pursuant to this sub-clause, the University shall not require the employee to take a further period of leave for two years after the end of that period of leave.

53.8 Where a public holiday occurs during the period that an employee is absent on long-service leave and such holiday is observed by the University, no deduction shall be made for that day from the long-service leave credits of the employee.

53.9 An employee or, where applicable, his or her legal representative, shall be entitled to payment in lieu of long-service leave accrued but not taken as at the date of termination of employment where:

53.9.1 the employment of the employee terminates after ten years or more of service, including service recognised with another employer;

53.9.2 after four years' service with the University, the employee retires on the grounds of ill health, age, or the employee dies;

53.9.3 in the case of retrenchment, payment in lieu shall be for all long-service leave accrued for each completed year of service plus a pro rata amount for the current year of service calculated on a daily basis.

53.10 Where payment is made in lieu of long-service leave accrued but not taken, the amount of such pay shall be computed on a daily basis equivalent to 1.3 weeks per annum.

58.1 For all employees commencing employment with the University on or after the date of certification of this agreement, the University will recognise prior service for the purposes of sick leave and long-service leave credits only as follows:

58.1.1 with other publicly-funded Australian Universities and TAFE Colleges/Institutes; and

58.1.2 with privately-funded Universities whose Chief Executive Officer is a member of the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee.

58.2 Provided that an employee will not be entitled to have service recognised from the organisations specified in sub-clause 58.1 above, if the employee's break in service exceeds six months. This also applies to former University employees who re-join the University after a period of six months.

58.3 Notwithstanding any of the above, service in other circumstances may be recognised at the discretion of the Vice-Chancellor or the Vice-Chancellor's nominee.

58.4 Where service with a previously recognised employer is accepted for long-service leave credit, the University may require that a period of service with the Universityof not more than three years be completed before an employee is eligible to take long-service leave.

58.5 Entitlements of employees engaged prior to the date of certification of this Agreement are not affected by the operation of this Clause and will remain as per the previous Agreement or as outlined in their employment contract.

58.6 Where more than ten years' service is recognised by this University from other organisations or where there is entitlement to be paid out long-service leave accruals, new employees must seek to be paid out any such entitlement from their previous employer. Such service will count only towards the period of qualifying service for long-service leave and will not be subject to leave credits.

26.1 An employee shall be entitled to long service leave of thirteen weeks after ten years service and at the rate of 1.3 weeks for every additional year of service thereafter. Such leave shall be on full pay provided that the employee may elect to convert all or part of the period of entitlement to double the period by taking leave on half pay.

26.2 Where on the termination of employment payment is made in lieu of long service leave accrued but not taken, the amount of such pay shall be computed on a daily basis equivalent to 1.3 weeks per annum.

26.3 For the purpose of determining an employee's entitlement to long service leave, the following shall not count as service:

26.3.1 Any period of service for which payment in lieu of long service leave has been made by a previous employer or for which an employee has an entitlement to payment in lieu by a previous employer. Provided that for the purpose of satisfying the time requirement in 26.1, such service shall be recognised.

26.3.2 Any period of service with an authority or institution specified in 26.4 which preceded a break of more than twelve months in the employee's continuous employment.

26.4 Subject to 26.3, for the purpose of determining an employee's entitlement to long service leave employment at any of the following authorities or institutions shall count as service:

• another Victorian TAFE Institute or University; or
• a Victorian state primary school or state secondary college; or
• the Public Service of Victoria; or
• a public entity as defined by section 5 of the Public Administration Act 2004 (Vic.) or its successor.
• any other previous employer as may be agreed between the employee and the employer at the time of the employee's appointment.

26.5 An employee shall be entitled to have service with previous employers of the employee as provided in 26.4 recognised for the purpose of determining the long service entitlement of the employee provided that:

• 26.5.1 An employee shall make any claim for recognition of prior service within six months of the date of appointment. The employer shall, as soon as possible after the date of the employee's appointment but no later than twelve months from that date, notify the employee in writing as to the amount of prior service recognised for long service leave purposes.
• 26.5.2 In the case of any employee employed on or after 30 August 1994 the amount of service with previous employers recognised for long service leave purposes shall not exceed ten years.

26.6 Where a public holiday occurs during the period that an employee is absent on long service leave no deduction shall be made for that day from the long service leave credits of the employee.

26.7 An employee, or where applicable his or her legal representative, shall be entitled to payment in lieu of long service leave accrued but not taken as at the date of termination of employment where:

• 26.7.1 the employment of the employee terminates after ten years or more service;
• 26.7.2 after four years service with the employer the employee is retrenched, retires on the grounds of age or ill health or the employee dies.

26.8 An employee granted long service leave shall be paid the following rate of pay:

• 26.8.1 where the employee's service has been constant on a full-time or part-time basis, the leave shall be paid at the employee's ordinary rate of pay;
• 26.8.2 where the employee's service has been other than constant, the leave shall be paid at a rate of pay based on the employee's mean average fraction calculated over the total period of service;
• 26.8.3 where the employee's service consists of both full-time and part-time service, the leave shall be paid at the rate proportional to the amount of such full-time and part-time service.

26.9 Long service leave shall be taken at a mutually agreeable time having regard to the operation of the employer, provided that a request for leave shall not be unreasonably refused.