How does portable long service leave work?

Register

Employers who are covered under the Scheme are legally required to register with the Portable Long Service Authority and register their eligible workers.

When your employer registers you for the Scheme we will send you a welcome letter via email or mail with your Worker ID.

If you don’t know if you are registered or don’t know your Worker ID, you can contact us on 1800 517 158(opens in a new window) or enquiries@plsa.vic.gov.au(opens in a new window).

Your employer reports your service to us

Each quarter, your employer reports your hours and ordinary pay to us. Your employer pays us a levy based on this information. This levy covers the cost of future portable long service benefits.

The Scheme started on 1 July 2019 and applies to work performed after that date.

Track your entitlements

Use your Worker ID to access the worker portal. The worker portal is where you can track your portable long service benefits, update your contact details and access your annual statements.

It’s important to check your work history in the worker portal to make sure the work you have performed has been recorded correctly by your employer. If you are missing work hours, you may miss out on portable long service leave entitlements. If you are missing service, you can fill in a missing service claim form.

Find out how to access the worker portal for the first time.

Log in to the worker portal(opens in a new window) if you have already registered for access.

Update your contact details

You must keep your personal email address and mobile phone number up to date in the worker portal so we can contact you if you change jobs.

Claim your portable long service

After at least 7 years of recognised service under the Scheme, you can apply for your portable long service leave benefits.

More than one employer

You can build up portable long service leave entitlements if you are working for more than one employer in the same industry at the same time.

Each employer must register you for the Scheme. If you already have a Worker ID, you can provide this to your employer.

Changing employers

If you change employer but remain in the same industry, you can continue to build up your portable long service leave entitlements.

Give your new employer your Worker ID and they will start reporting your hours and ordinary pay to us, and paying the levy based on your service with them.

Taking leave from the industry

If you do not work in your industry for more than 4 years in a row, your registration may become inactive.

Once your registration has been moved to the inactive part of the workers register, you may lose all your previous service days and may not be able to claim your long service leave. If you return to the industry later, your service days will start again from zero.