About Us

All members of the construction industry, including employers, workers, working subcontractors, working directors, and apprentices are required to be registered with LeavePlus. We look after your long service leave, and it keeps building as you move from role to role. It’s the leave that moves with you.

Why have portable Long Service Leave?

LeavePlus provides portable Long Service leave to workers in the construction industry in Victoria. Without portable Long Service Leave, construction industry workers would have to work for the same employer for at least seven years – with no more than 3 months break – to earn long service leave.

It is clear that many workers are disadvantaged if they work in an industry based on separate projects, and frequently move from employer to employer. The construction industry is a typical example of this way of working. It was for this reason that a portable LSL scheme for construction workers was set up in Victoria in 1976.

97 per cent of workers in our scheme have had more than one employer over their qualifying period.

If not for LeavePlus, these workers would not have been entitled to long service leave.

How Portable Long Service Leave works

LeavePlus keeps a record of how many days of eligible service a worker accrues in Victoria – this record of service is centralised with us so that we can keep track of your accrued service throughout all of your employers. Once you have built up seven or more years of eligible service, you will be able to claim Long Service Leave from LeavePlus at any point thereafter.

LeavePlus is a compulsory part of the construction industry in Victoria. As such, all employers who perform covered work are required to record with LeavePlus how many days each worker has performed – this is done quarterly and builds up your record of service. The employer then pays a contribution fee into the Long Service Leave Fund so that we can ensure LeavePlus is sufficiently funded to be able to pay out claims to all eligible workers when they make their claim for Long Service Leave.

The Long Service Leave Act

The Construction Industry Long Service Leave Act 1997 is an act of Parliament that creates a scheme providing for portable long service leave in the Victorian construction industry. That scheme is administered in accordance with a Trust Deed and the Rules attached to it. A public company, CoINVEST Ltd (trading as LeavePlus) is the named trustee and empowered to administer and enforce the scheme created by the Act and the Rules.

Who pays for portable long service leave?

Employers contribute a designated percentage to the Long Service Leave Fund every three months – this is an on-cost to employers and not deducted from workers’ wages. The contribution rate is currently based on 2.7% of the total gross wage of all of their workers – this is to keep the costs uniform and relative between the smaller and larger employers and to make sure that everyone is paying their fair share to fund the Long Service Leave scheme.

The costs are NOT itemised per employee, and there is no dollar amount building up against a worker’s name – the rate of pay for a worker’s Long Service Leave claim is based on their current normal weekly rate of pay at the time of claiming.

In this way, LeavePlus is funded by the industry and pays out Long Service Leave directly to the worker so that the employer doesn’t have to!

A worker may move from one employer to another

LeavePlus is portable Long Service Leave – this means it does not matter how many times workers change employers, as long as they remain in the construction industry performing covered work. Any period of employment where five or more days of covered work are performed is counted towards long service leave entitlement.

Workers are allowed a longer break between employment periods

Workers can leave covered work for up to four years any number of times without losing their service credits. However for any absences in excess of four years, the previous service will not be classed as continuous with anything accrued thereafter.

Workers only need 7 years of active service to gain a minimum entitlement to long service leave under the Scheme.

Workers only need seven years of service in the industry to take long service leave. Once you’ve got seven years of accrued service, you can claim your Long Service Leave entitlement at any time. However, if you never accrue seven years of service, you will never be eligible to claim Long Service Leave. LeavePlus also has a death benefit for the estate of registered workers, provided the worker accrued at least 55 days of recognised service within four years of passing away.

The scheme covers working subcontractors with optional contributions.

There are a number of factors that determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor (subcontractor). If you are unsure as to whether you are classed as a Worker (employee) or a Working Subcontractor, click here. If you are unsure as to whether you are a Working Subcontractor or Working Director, click here.

If you are a Working Subcontractor, you are required to register with LeavePlus. However you do not need to contribute for your own service in the industry if you do not wish. For more information on Working Subcontractor responsibilities, and how to make optional contributions towards your own Long Service Leave, click here.