LONG SERVICE LEAVE

While the entitlements to long service leave under Victorian aged care agreements is now variable, there is one issue which appears to be misunderstood and which leads to employees becoming confused as to how the calculation for the entitlement is to be made.

The key issue is that long service leave under most agreements is not based on accruing hours, it is accruing weeks. Under most agreements, the entitlement after ten years (or even 7 where this has been agreed), is calculated as 1/30^th of service.

This means that at 10 years an employee would be entitled to 17.333 weeks if they resigned. They are also able to take this pro rata leave by mutual agreement up to the 15 year anniversary.

However, the way the pay for all weeks of LSL is calculated is based on the definition of “Pay” in an EBA. For example, many agreements provide that the pay rate is the hourly or weekly rate at the time the leave is taken however the number of hours paid per week is based on the average number of hours worked over the previous 3 or 5 years whichever is the greater. Some agreements still provide that the hours per week to be paid while on LSL is the number of hours being worked at the time the leave is taken.

However, application and approvals for LSL should not be made in hours. This can be confusing in calculating the amount of leave taken or remaining. An example is as follows:

An employee has 10 years’ service and requests 5 weeks LSL. This would mean there would be 12 weeks approximately left. However, at the time the employee wishes to take the leave they are working an average of 30 hours per week, but this has been the case for only the last month. If the EBA states that they are paid based on the number of hours being worked at the time the leave is taken, they are entitled to 5 weeks paid at 30 hours. However, if the EBA states it is based on the average number of hours worked over the previous three years, and that is 15 hours, then the employee is entitled to 5 weeks paid at 15 hours. Therefore, the approval should be for 5 weeks at 15 hours per week.

The outcome for calculating the number of hours to be paid during LSL may be less than the employee is getting at the time the leave is taken or in some cases more. Many staff who are aware of this issue can increase their hours significantly in the two or three years prior to taking or applying for the leave.

It is important to understand how LSL pay is to be calculated under the terms of your agreement.

Please Note

The terms of the EBA override the Long Service Leave Act of Victoria

The pre 200 awards are reflected in the enterprise agreements. Staff do not have any entitlement to any long service leave after 7 years unless the agreement has been varied to provide for this change from 10 years. Employees whose employment is covered by the EBA (and if there is no EBA the modern Aged Care Award and the Nurses Award) have the pre 2010 Award provisions preserved.

Under the Fair Work Act 2009, employees covered by federal systems have their long service leave (LSL) entitlements protected, including those stemming from pre-2010 awards, through the National Employment Standards (NES). These are officially termed “applicable award-derived long service leave terms”. 

Here is a breakdown of the right to maintain these provisions:

1. What are Pre-Modern Award Provisions?

• Definition: These are long service leave entitlements contained in federal awards that were in operation immediately before 1 January 2010.
• Purpose: The legislation aimed to maintain the status quo, as modern awards (which came into effect on 1 January 2010) were barred from regulating long service leave.
• Application: If a pre-modern award covered an employee’s work before 2010, and still would apply today, those specific LSL provisions (e.g., qualifying years, amount of leave) apply instead of state/territory legislation. 

2. How are They Maintained?

• The NES Protection: The NES preserves these pre-modern award terms as a “transitional entitlement” pending a national uniform standard.
• Precedence: When a pre-modern award applies, state and territory long service leave laws do not apply.
• No Termination: These provisions remain in force until a new, applicable enterprise agreement or other registered agreement is made that specifically replaces them. 

3. When do Pre-2010 Awards NotApply?

Pre-modern award LSL terms do not apply if a different, more specific instrument came into operation before or after the NES, such as: 

• A collective agreement or AWA made after 26 March 2006.
• An enterprise agreement approved by the Fair Work Commission.
• A “preserved State agreement”. 

Please contact Clare Dewan at cdewan@cdassociates.com.au or 0412601156 for further clarification

Clare Dewan

August 2025

Letter from Megan Reeve ANMF VIC

Clients will have received a letter from the ANMF regarding the next wage increase due from the outcome of the work value case.

While the FWC has published the new rates we await the Guidance material from the Government regarding implementation. Once that is published the suggested pay increases for the classifications affected, we can send advice to clients.

Should you wish to respond to the letter you can do so, and you can advise that you are waiting for the guidance material and that the increases will be provided as expected.

Professional Nursing Services

Clients a reminded that Dianne Jones is available to assist with your requirements for temporary Director of Nursing replacement, assistance with the implementation of the new standards and assistance with audits against the standards. Please contact Dianne on diannej534@gmail

Clare Dewan

Principal

0412601156

HR SERVICES

In conjunction with JVHR Services, clients of CDA can access HR services from Janis Veldwyk. Janis is a highly experienced Human Resources and Health and Safety specialist with a strong background in the health and aged care sectors. She has held key leadership roles, including Director of People and Performance at a large not-for-profit aged care organisation and People and Culture Manager (incorporating Human Resources and Health and Safety) at a medium-sized for-profit aged care organisation.

Janis has established her own successful consulting business, where she provides expert guidance in HR and Health, Safety, and Environment. Her extensive experience encompasses time in motion studies, roster reviews, training, health and safety audits, risk assessments, policy reviews, and WorkCover claims management.

Janis is an active member of prestigious professional organisations such as the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) and the Australian Institute of Health & Safety (AIHS).

With a diverse skill set and a licence as an investigator, Janis is well-equipped to deliver comprehensive solutions in the realms of human resources, health and safety, and environmental consulting across the health, aged, and community services sectors.

Janis is also available to work on short term HR projects, replace HR staff when on leave or take a role as a smaller services permanent on site HR provider. Many smaller services struggle to afford or find an experienced HR manager and Janis is able to assist on a part time basis to suit.

Please contact Janis on 0411075895 or jveldwyk@jvhrservices.com.au

 ANNOUNCING A NEW SERVICE

SUPPORT SERVICE – FACILITY MANAGER / DIRECTOR OF NURSING

For many years Clare Dewan and Associates has been partnering with JVHR Services (Janis Veldwyk) in relation to working with clients who generally do not have on site HR support. This has proven to be helpful to many organisations.

We are now able to offer support services from an experienced Facility Manager who is now operating her own support services, and her name is Dianne Jones. As Dianne has been in the aged care industry for many years, some of my clients and others may be familiar with her.

Diane is a Registered Nurse Division 1 with post graduate qualifications in Gerontology. Dianne has extensive aged Care Management experience having for the past 25 years worked as both a Facility and Executive manager for both the not for profit and for profit sectors of aged care. 

Her vast experience is driven by her passion for person centred care and ability to assist facilities to drive culture change and make a positive difference to the lives of the residents we all care for.

Dianne has vast experience in the challenges often faced by aged care industry and is now available to offer her support. If an organisation requires a temporary Facility Manager or Director of Nursing to cover annual leave or alternatively as the result of an interim shortage, Dianne is available to assist on a short-term contractual basis.

Dianne has very hands on approach and will work closely with staff as required to assist  and support facilities to work towards implementation of the new aged care standards always promoting a culture that supports a person-centred approach to care.

I have had many clients advise me they are unable to find replacement managers or even permanent managers, and also many are behind in preparing for the new standards. Dianne may well be able to assist in short term replacement or on a consultancy basis in relation to implementing the new standards.

Clients will be invoiced by Clare Dewan and Associates for work done by Dianne and there will be a client preferred rate for those clients who are on an annual retainer. The hourly rate is extremely competitive at $250.00 per plus GST (half that rate for travel) for clients and $280.00 for non-clients.

Dianne will be available to contact from the 2^nd June 2025

Dianne can be contacted either via cdewan@cdassociates.com.au or diannej534@gmail.com or 0444526469

If you wish to discuss this with me please call 0412601156

Regards

Clare Dewan