Long service for contract cleaners in Victoria
Traditionally, a worker’s long service leave is earned with one employer over a long period; Victoria added a second track for three industries, and contract cleaning is one of them.
The portable version accrues by the industry, not by the employer: the Authority’s words are that a worker builds long service benefits for all their years in a single industry rather than with a single employer.
The scheme counts covered workers in contract cleaning. At least 7 years of recognised service: apply.
Filled: a labour hire licence. A business that supplies workers to clean a commercial premises needs a labour hire licence, the Labour Hire Authority says.
Outlined: no licence. A cleaning business needs no labour hire licence for a home, the Authority says, and a place used as someone’s residence is not part of a commercial premises.
The fine diagonal: long service. For a covered worker in contract cleaning, the portable scheme counts the industry’s years, not the employer’s.
The tally: when a home pays its cleaner directly. The ATO rule for a domestic or private worker: eligible for super guarantee if they work for you more than 30 hours in a week, regardless of pay.
What portable long service is
A cleaner who changes employers does not start again under this scheme. The Portable Long Service Authority explains that the benefits accrue for all the years a covered worker spends in one industry, rather than at one employer, and that its scheme was built for sectors where people move between employers often. The Authority is a statutory body, established by the Long Service Benefits Portability Act 2018 to administer the scheme.
Coverage is by industry, and the list is short: community services, contract cleaning and security. A worker covered by the scheme accrues portable long service benefits alongside traditional long service leave. To build up entitlements, a worker must work for an employer covered under the scheme and perform work covered under it; the Authority’s coverage pages list which work counts in each industry.
Contract cleaning is one of the three industries the scheme covers, and its answer to time worked for different employers is to count the industry’s years.
The clock that started in 2019
The scheme began on 1 July 2019, and from that date workers in contract cleaning, among the three industries, could start accruing under the Act. One boundary came with the start date: only the benefits accrued after the scheme’s beginning are portable. Another runs the other way, and it is the reason a worker need not choose between the two tracks: accruing portable benefits does not stop the traditional entitlements from building at the same time. A worker who has claimed traditional long service leave cannot claim the portable benefit for the same period of service.
The scheme also sets its own marks and edges. Recognised service of at least seven years is the mark at which a worker can apply for the long service leave entitlements. A worker can accrue while working for several employers in the industry at the same time. And the clock does not run forever without work: after more than four consecutive years out of the industry, a registration may become inactive, and the Authority says it will make contact before that happens.
Most short absences are protected. The Authority says most approved periods of leave of up to a year, with parental leave among its examples, continue to count toward long service credit.
The line to a claim, dated
| When | What the scheme’s pages say happens |
|---|---|
| 1 July 2019 | The scheme begins, and workers in contract cleaning can start accruing portable long service benefits from this date. |
| After the start | Only benefits accrued since the scheme began are portable; earlier service stays with the traditional track. |
| Each quarter | Each quarter, the employer records each covered worker’s hours and ordinary pay and submits them to the Authority. |
| Up to a year | Most short approved leave keeps counting toward long service credit. |
| More than 4 years out | After that much time away from the industry, a registration may become inactive. |
| At least 7 years | Seven years of recognised service is the mark at which a worker can apply for their long service leave entitlements. |
Put two of the dates together and a working line appears. The first possible accrual under the scheme began on 1 July 2019, when the scheme started, and the applying mark is seven years of recognised service. Seven calendar years from the scheme’s start on 1 July 2019 ran to 1 July 2026. The mark to apply is 7 years of recognised service under the Scheme, and the worker portal is where a worker can track their current accrual.
The employer’s side of the roster
For an employer of covered workers, the scheme adds a quarterly piece of administration. An employer is required to register each covered worker with the Portable Long Service Authority, the Authority says.
The return is the scheme’s clock. Each quarter, the employer records each covered worker’s hours and ordinary pay and submits them to the Authority. Employers pay the Authority a levy that covers the cost of future portable long service benefits. The levy the employer pays is used to pay the worker’s benefit, the Authority says.
The scheme is funded through the levy employers pay, and the Authority’s guidance repeats the shape of it: employers pay the levy that covers the cost of future benefits.
The worker’s side: a Worker ID that travels
For the cleaner, the scheme is one number and one habit. A covered worker’s employer is required to register them with the Authority, and the worker keeps a note of their Worker ID and gives it to each new employer in the industry when they start; the Worker ID is also what opens the worker portal. The employer records the worker’s hours and ordinary pay and submits the information each quarter. The portal is where a worker can track their employer’s contributions, their current accrual, and update contact details.
Changing employers is the case the scheme was built around. If a worker moves to a new employer but stays in the same industry, entitlements keep building; the Worker ID goes to the new employer, who starts including the worker in the quarterly returns and paying the levy for their service. Working for several employers at once is allowed for as well: a worker can accrue across more than one employer in the same industry at the same time, and each employer registers the worker separately.
The two ends of the relationship meet the same scheme from different directions: the employer pays the levy that covers future benefits, and the Authority’s page for workers says the levy their employer pays will be used to pay their benefit.