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Save Portable Long Service Leave

2018-07-23

All disability workers need to act today to save our promised portable long service leave. 

The legislation to make long service leave portable for disability workers is currently before the Victorian Parliament.

One person stands between disability workers getting portable long service leave and us missing out - Upper House MP Rachel Carling-Jenkins.

Employers have been lobbying Rachel Carling-Jenkins to oppose portable long service leave for disability support workers by excluding disability workers from the scheme.

Without Rachel Carling-Jenkins' vote, we will NOT have a parliamentary majority to win portable long service leave for Victorian disability workers.

This means we won't be able to move between different disability service providers and still get long service leave. Instead the clock will restart and we’ll have to wait 10 years before we can access it.

ALL DISABILITY WORKERS will be affected. 

Victorian disability workers have fought long and hard for portable long service leave. It's especially important for the future under the NDIS, where disability workers may be working for several different employers at once, or moving from one employer to another. 

Under the current long service leave laws, you have work for a single employer for at least 10 years before you can access your long service leave. However, under the proposed portable long service leave scheme you will be entitled to a benefit after 7 years working in the disability sector. This means you can change employers and not worry about resetting the clock on your entitlement to long service leave.

HACSU State Secretary, Lloyd Williams, said legislating portable long service leave for disability services is vital.

“Many disability workers remain in the sector for years but shift between employers over their working lives. As things currently stand, this means they miss out on long service leave benefits.”

 “We want to see disability workers who are committed to the sector rewarded for the invaluable contribution they make to the lives of people with disabilities.”

If Parliament passes the legislation, portable long service leave will come into effect by no later than 1 April 2019. 

Call Rachel Carling-Jenkins’ office now on (03) 8742 3226. Ask her to support long service leave for all disability workers.