Information for employers - Portable Long Service Leave

If you’re an employer in the community services, contract cleaning or security industries in Victoria, with workers engaged to perform work in these industries, you’re required to register with the Portable Long Service Authority.

Registration is completed .

Slot gamePlease note: Registration is compulsory, and penalties may be imposed for any employer failing to register. Employers must register within 3 months becoming an employer in the industry.

It’s a legislative requirement that employers give the Portable Long Service Authority details about their workers’ service each quarter.

This is done by completing and submitting quarterly returns through the employer .

These returns include information about:

• the time worked and ordinary wages received by eligible workers during the period
• any long service leave taken by workers during the period
• details of eligible workers terminated during the period

Learn more about quarterly returns

Slot gameEmployers are required to register their eligible workers for the scheme through their quarterly return. Each quarter, you must ensure that you have included any new workers on your quarterly return.

Employers are required to pay a levy each quarter that’s based on the time worked and ordinary wages paid to their workers, as reported in the quarterly return.

Slot gameLevy payments are payable within 14 days and can be paid by BPay and EFT. The levy is set by the Governing Board and is currently:

• 1.65% of workers’ ordinary wages for community services
• 1.80% of workers’ ordinary wages for contract cleaning and security

Employers should keep records of their compliance with their obligations, including:

• worker details such as name and date of birth and when they began service with the employer
• the nature of the work performed by workers
• time worked and ordinary wages received by each worker
• long service benefits provided to the worker under this legislation, the Long Service Leave Act 2018, or a fair work instrument
• any other long service benefits paid or given to the worker
• the date a worker stops service with the employer

Make sure you notify the Portable Long Service Authority if you change your address or other contact details. This can be done through the employer portal or by calling us on 1800 517 158.

The operating costs for the scheme are currently paid for by the Victorian government and in the future the Authority and Scheme will be self funding. The levy paid by employers and invested by the Authority will fund the ongoing operation of the Scheme.

The Long Service Benefits Portability Act 2018 is a Victorian law and therefore those employers defined in the Act must comply with their obligation to register with the Authority and lodge quarterly returns. Compliance action may be taken against organisation that fail to comply with the law.

Slot gameEmployer levies paid to the Authority are held by the Authority. The point of the portable scheme is to ensure that when a worker moves to a different employer within the industry and continues to build up long service, they will be able to claim their long service entitlements when they become entitled to do so. Money is not returned to the employer when a worker leaves their employment.

Slot gameIt is important to note that a worker is allowed to leave the industry for up to four (4) years and if they return to the industry, they will continue to build up their portable long service entitlements. An employer does not pay the levy for a worker who is not working in the sector.

Slot gameTests are undertaken to determine if an employer or worker is included in the Scheme.

There are two tests that apply to determine a person’s eligibility in the community services sector under the Act:

Employer Test:Slot game Is the employing entity eligible to be an employer for the community services sector, and does that employer employ at least one person who is eligible to be a worker for the community services sector?

Worker Test:Slot game Is the individual worker eligible to be a worker for the community services sector? To be an eligible worker, the predominant activity of the eligible individual worker’s substantive role must be the personal delivery of services or the personal performance of activities that are community service work.

A manager or team leader’s eligibility depends on the kind of work they personally deliver.

Example 1

Social work is community service work.

Slot gameA social worker personally delivers social work services.

Slot gameA team leader who manages a team of social workers and regularly accompanies her team on visits and meetings with clients, or actively works with team members on case management probably personally provides activities that are social work (i.e. direct support to the provision of the service). Individual circumstances would need to be considered.

An area manager who is responsible for all team leaders and social workers in an area and does not participate in visits or meetings with clients (or only does so infrequently) probably does not personally deliver services or perform activities that are social work. Again, individual circumstances would need to be considered.

Slot gameIt is the responsibility of the employer to determine whether an individual worker is to be registered in their quarterly return and join the Portable Long Service Scheme. You may find the following examples helpful to assist you to distinguish between activities which would, and would not, be considered the personal performance of community service work.

Slot gameIt is also important to remember to apply a predominance test to the employee’s work. That is, a worker may have a small role in delivering community services, but if it is not their predominant role, they will not be eligible for the scheme.

Example 2

Jean is the Team Leader of the Rapid Housing Program, which consists of six team members, at a local homelessness service which is an employer for the purposes of the Act.

All six team members have been deemed to be undertaking community service work for the purposes of the Act.

Slot gameJean does not have an assigned client load and rarely has direct client contact. Jean coordinates and manages the team including providing clinical supervision, practice direction, debriefing, organising training and team development, making decisions on financial support provided to clients, supporting workers to engage in best practice, sitting on service committees and operational tasks which support the team to undertake their work.

Given that the team rely directly on Jean in order to perform community service work, Jean personally performs activities that would most likely be considered community service work for the purposes of the Act in that her work provides an accommodation-related support service.

Jude is an administrative assistant at a local youth support service. The service is an employer for the purposes of the Act. Jude delivers administrative assistance to a team of people, 60% of whom personally perform community service work for the purposes of the Act. Jude books training, manages the small office, assists with payroll, signs cheques for financial assistance to clients, books accommodation for clients and oversees the maintenance and provision of a small fleet of company cars. Jude does not engage directly with clients.

Slot gameWhilst his work is important to the organisation and to its workforce, it would most likely be considered not essential to the performance of community service work for the purposes of the Act. In this respect, his work can be distinguished from the work performed by Jean above. Jean helps manage casework, even though she rarely meets with clients.

Please note, these examples are provided to assist you in judging your own circumstances and are not an indication of the Authority’s view on whether your workers are eligible under the scheme.

No, an employer will not receive a refund of levy payments if a worker leaves their employment. The purpose of the portability scheme is to provide workers with the ability to move from one employer to another without losing the long service benefits they have accrued.The worker may leave your employment, but they remain eligible to accrue portable long service benefits as long as they remain within the industry, performing a work defined by the Act.

Slot gameYour workers retain their rights to accrue long service under the Long Service Leave Act 2018, and, if relevant, under a federal industrial instrument. Your organisation needs to have sufficient funds on hand to meet these obligations as they are separate to the Portable Scheme. However, the Act includes double-dipping provisions that allow an employer to claim a reimbursement from the Authority in certain circumstances, if they pay the worker under a different scheme.

Slot gameAs it does not meet the definition of an employer under the applicable legislation, the Authority does not pay superannuation or payroll tax when it pays a claim under the .