Australia’s Portable Long Service Leave is a scheme for specific industries which allows workers to transfer their accrued Long Service Leave entitlements from employer to employer. The ‘standard’ long service leave Act requires an employee to have continuous service with one employer in order to access their Long Service Leave entitlements. Employees covered under the State Portable Long Service Leave schemes can instead work for a number of employers and their service with each employer will count towards continuous service.

Employers Obligations

The Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Act 1986 (the Act) requires Employers to register with the NSW Long Service Leave Corporation.

Once registered employers are required to:

• Lodge Start Notices and End Notices for workers (performing building work on-site)
• Complete an annual Employer Return
• Keep records for compliance
• Pay Long Service Leave levy to the corporation

Workers

Workers by the Act are employees who perform building and construction work, including: bricklayers. labourers, concreters, painters, electricians, plumbers, scaffolders, tilers, joiners etc.

State, local and commonwealth government employees are not covered by the Act, nor are clerical or administration staff, surveyor, project managers, estimators, architects and any other workers who do not physically perform building work on site.

Workers providing work as subcontractors are responsible for lodging their own service. Employers are required to advise the Corporation within 7 days of a worker commencing or terminating employment, even if the worker has only worked on-site for one day.

Before completing a Start Notice, Employers should check if the worker has a Long Service Corporation Registration Number and if so, include their registration number on the notice. Workers who are already registered with the Corporation should have a card showing their registration number.

Employers Returns

If a business employs workers for the purpose of doing building and construction work in NSW, this business is legally required to confirm and update its service to ensure benefits paid from the scheme are calculated accurately. This is done by lodging an Annual Employer Return.

An Employer Return is a list of all workers that the Corporation has recorded being employed by the specific employer. This list is compiled from the employees’ Start and End Notices lodged during the year. The Employer Return is due for completion and lodgement by 31st July each year.

Compliance Records

Employers are required to keep various books and documents for a period of 6 years.

These documents include:

• Employment records containing
  • Name and Address of the worker
  • Registration Number of the worker
  • Kind of work performed by the worker
  • Name of the Award the worker is paid under (when applicable)
  • Total number of days of building and construction work performed each week
• Time Sheets and Attendance records

Pay Long Service Leave

All building and construction work in NSW costing $25,000 (GST Inclusive) and above is liable to the payment of Long Service Leave Levy. The types of building and construction work that are liable are defined partly by the Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Act 1986 and partly by the Local Government Act.

In general terms, the Building and Construction works liable to payment of the levy are:

• Civil construction (roads, bridges, airfields and sub-divisions)
• Buildings and residential dwellings
• Pipelines
• Fuel, gas and water storage facilities and fixed distribution infrastructure
• Sewage drainage and treatment systems
• Telecommunications and electrical distribution infrastructure.

The cost of building and construction work in broad terms is the cost of labour and materials, including excavation, site preparation, concreting, carpentry, bricklaying, tiling, plumbing, structural steelwork, electrical and painting. External permanent structures such as retaining walls, paving and kerbing are also included.

The local approving authority whether a Local Council, private certifiers or government bodies will rely on their own estimating methodology or contract prices with building firms.

The levy must be paid before the Construction Certificate or Complying Development Certificate can be forwarded or delivered to the person seeking such approval. For work not requiring approval by a Council or Accredited Certifier, the levy must be paid before work commences. The Employer’s obligation to pay is created when they complete and return an application in the prescribed form.

There is no GST implication, nor ATO tax invoicing requirement relating to the Levy. Payments can be made online at www.longservice.nsw. gov.au, by completing a Levy Payment Form. Employers making payments using this facility are able to print a receipt upon successful completion of the transaction. No further receipt is issued by the Corporation. As some Councils are agents for collecting the Long Service Levy, the levy can also be paid directly to them.

If the cost of the work exceeds $10 million and may take more than 12 months to complete, or if the obligation to pay the levy as a lump sum is unduly onerous, the levy may be allowed to be paid in instalments