National Employment Standards

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We have finally reached it:

💫 Heaven

💫 Nirvana

💫 Your faith-based idea of the end goal

For us here at Pink Collar Workers, it is known as:

No longer at work — for a really long period of time: Blessed be 🙏🏼

In employment it is more commonly known as long service leave. Find out more at the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

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We all know where this going, based on past experience. If this is the first topic you’ve clicked on, let’s break it down into employment status first. We don’t want to get you lost in the murky world of employment standards and no idea how to navigate it. 

Basically, employment status is like relationship status. There is no right or wrong choice, each has benefits, as well as a down side. Some offer more security, but keep in mind, a permanent job, with a decade of prior service can quickly become unsafe in an instant:

• A new manager takes an instant dislike to you; 
• An old manager, previously on your side, has now turned. It could be gossip, untrue but shared behind your back or, maybe, they were never on your side to begin with. Frenemies are common in the employment arena. 
• Opportunities to socialise and network are suddenly taken away from you. Once included, you are now the workplace pariah. You know where they are, but you’re not invited. You’re forced to seek them out yourself. If you’re smart, you don’t. If you’re forced to, in order to keep your job, you do the hard yards and track them down. More often, it’s last minute inclusion – event pre-planned, obviously so, but ‘Hey! Like, oh my goodness, you should so join us!’ Uhm.

Why focus on all these examples of harassment, direct and indirect, when talking about long service leave? Many people facing this type of harassment resort to their personal leave to break free of toxic workplace patterns. This is when they realise how much damage has been done to them. Upon this little epiphany, they opt for a longer term solution. and seek a better solution or, as we call it:

No longer at work — for a really long period of time: Blessed be 🙏🏼

First, let’s break down the long service leave basics:

Generally long service leave is available after ten years of service. Some organisations have it available after seven and the more progressive industries are starting to hit five years. Those who take it before the ten-year mark access it at a pro-rata rate.

The amount you receive per year of service can vary,  based on industry and the state you work in. That’s right. A worker in mining, fly in and fly out (FIFO), based in Western Australia but lives in Queensland will not fall under the Queensland legislation.

But What About Me? It Isn’t Fair! 

It is important to know about the concept of portable long service leave. Industries, such as construction, male-dominated, historically struggled to accrue long service leave because of the nature of the work. This had a direct impact on workers attached to building projects, not construction companies. Those workers, tired of losing out, fought for another method.  An alternative system was established. The employer paid the money to a separate body, rather than keeping the funds internally. 

Other industries followed suit, including more female-dominated sectors, such as community workers, as well as the contract cleaning industry. The community sector is crucial in terms of guiding better practice for portable long service leave for feminised industries. They are larger and tend to be organisation-based, rather than small business. As with construction, they’re project based but operate on funding cycles and government change, at a state and federal level.

This attachment to funding cycles is beyond their employer’s control. The tendering process, tedious and challenging, leads to well-established programs being moved to a new employer. Rather than take the existing workers with, the new employer fills in-house and the prior years of service disappear for those left to find jobs elsewhere.

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• Casual employees

Other types of leave –  personal (sick or carers’ leave), annual leave, community service leave, to name a few – are not available to casual workers. They receive a percentage on top of their base wage to cover these. Usually around 25%, it’s designed to offset the lack in leave entitlements. Long service leave is different, with entitlements available but some inconsistencies.

Some casual employees were not always eligible for long service leave, with industry bodies fighting for historical claims, based on ongoing and systematic hours. That means, not your 3-hour per week casual but the casual who should have been made a permanent employee, but wasn’t. Other examples of inconsistencies are industries such as the community sector, childcare and hairdressing, where there is a high staff turnover.  

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• Permanent employees

This category of worker is much more simple. Find what your length of service is and work out how far away you are from reaching it.

If you’re in the category mentioned at the start, targeted and starting to sweat at the thought of returning to work, you might find there’s an end in sight. The segue from working to an extended of period of leave is often grounds for that magical ‘lightbulb moment,’ where it was time for a career change and:

Now I’m here…interested in a career in the field of, ahem…

*looks at paper, looks at the interview panel*

The creative industry and, well, an administrative role seemed like a great place to start. You know, learn from the ground up...

*smiles broadly, nods head*

The key to transitioning out of a workplace or even an industry that’s no longer right for you is this:

Plan ahead

Using a break from the workplace, toxic or otherwise, can be the catalyst to put you onto a new trajectory and you don’t even need to use the mid-life crisis excuse as your Get Out Of Jail Free card. You simply need to work smart and look ahead to find the perfect escape route. 

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On that note, here’s our opportunity to do a runner and leave you be.. Words, employment and employment law are our thing, not numbers.

The Fair Work Ombudsman website has information on long service leave for you. The tools are state-based. Either way, the calculators will make life easier for you. We’ve included an example for New South Wales:

 Long Service Leave Calculator for New South Wales

➖✖️➕➗➖✖️➕➖✖️➕➗

As noted, this type of leave is state-based, unless you’re under an employer who has an Agreement, not an Award. The long service leave section is easy to find and Agreements can be found here on the Fair Work Commission website.

We kinda feel bad, you know, about bailing on you with the number crunching side of things. To make amends, we’ve listed the state-based links, to make it easier;

Australian Capital Territory

Access Canberra

New South Wales

NSW Industrial Relations Commission

Northern Territory

NT Government

Queensland

Queensland Industrial Relations Commission

South Australia

SafeWork SA

Tasmania

WorkSafe Tasmania

Victoria

Business Victoria

Western Australia

Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety

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We’ll also give you a red hot tip:

🎁 WISH YOU WERE HERE 🎁

Expected Workload While ‘Not Here’

Have we had a conversation about what happens when you’re gone? If you’re corporate and have a work allocated phone or laptop, will there be an expectation you’ll be available to answer emails? What if it is only urgent emails? Maybe a few phone calls, important ones, here and there?

People run into trouble with the assumption they won’t be expected to be available, only to return a backlog and no way out of the excess and overload. You didn’t take extended time away from work to burn out upon your return. It’s unacceptable. Here are some basics:

🙅🏻‍♀️ Don’t assume someone will take over your job and definitely be prepared to take umbrage if they dare suggest you take your work phone with you. If you choose to, because that’s important to you, then that’s your choice. It is a conscious decision you’re making, as an adult. It doesn’t mean you want to or it’s okay.

🌟 With the knowledge you’ve made this choice, and if the thought of more work while away is untenable, settle for another option:

🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m on leave and only check emails every Tuesday  and Thursday. For urgent matters, please contact [insert details here]. 

🤷🏻‍ I’m on leave and check my emails between [insert time block here]. For urgent matters, please contact [insert details here]. 

🤷🏾‍♀️ I’m on leave. I’ll return on [insert date here]. I’ll respond upon my return. For urgent matters, please contact [insert details here]. 

🛳 Use no mobile phone connection or lack of internet as an option.

It doesn’t always work, given modern technology, but even the suggestion you might not be available is enough to trigger a rethink on your manager’s part. That can be enough for them to offer an alternative.

It is manipulative because it’s forcing them to move into a hero role but, let’s be honest, it is their job and see these pitfalls coming. It’s why they’re paid the extra money.

📧 Put an transparent out of office alert on your email and change your voicemail to reflect your availability.

People, aware they can’t reach you, will seek an alternative contact instead. You avoid conflict. 

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Unsure how to proceed? The best way forward is to talk to others, maybe outside of the organisation first, then scope out those you trust within.

An outside perspective can work wonders when you’re used to overload and emails but are in desperate need of a break. There is no right answer, only the answer that is right for you, right now. And, if all else fails and you’re pushed too far with one ding too many in your inbox…it’s not your fault the laptop went under when the boat capsized, work mobile following soon after. 

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Long Service Leave.

NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS

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