NT long service leave calculator
Find out how many weeks of long service leave a Northern Territory employee can take, or is due when their job ends, and what those weeks are worth.
- By Book Keeping Pros
- Sources checked 15 Oct 2026
Work out the long service leave
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For normal weekly hours, to see what the leave is worth
General information only. It works out the weeks from the dates and pay you enter and doesn't take your circumstances into account.
Long service leave
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How it works
The Long Service Leave Act 1981 (NT) gives a set number of weeks for each completed year of service, shown in the table below. An employee still in the job can take leave once they finish the full entitlement period, then again at each later milestone the Act sets, so service since the last milestone isn't available yet.
When employment ends with the full entitlement period complete, every completed year is paid, for any reason, but a part year is not. The exception is a dismissal for serious misconduct. If this describes what happened, only whole blocks are paid: the full entitlement period and each later block completed after it, with nothing for the years since the last whole block.
Between the minimum period and the full entitlement period, a proportion based on completed years is paid when the employer ends the employment for a reason other than serious misconduct, or the employee retires at or after retirement age, or resigns because of illness, incapacity or a domestic or other pressing necessity. A resignation for any other reason pays nothing.
If an employee dies between the minimum and full periods, the Act pays what they would have received had their employment ended in some other way that day. That turns on a reason for leaving that a death doesn't supply, so the calculator doesn't work it out.
The rules the calculator uses
| Rule | Value |
|---|---|
| Years of service for a pro rata payment on leaving for a listed reason | 7 years |
| Years of service for the full entitlement | 10 years |
| Leave for each completed year of service | 1.3 weeks |
Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, Northern Territory, Long Service Leave Act 1981 (NT), reprint as in force at 14 October 2015 Checked 15 Oct 2026.
What the result assumes
- Service ran without a break, for one employer and only in the Northern Territory, and each day of it counts.
- No award, enterprise agreement or portable scheme sets its own long service leave terms for this employee, so the Territory's general Act applies.
- A death between the minimum and full periods gets no figure, because the Act ties that payment to a reason for leaving that a death can't provide.
- Weeks are shown before deducting any long service leave the employee has already had.
- Value means the weeks multiplied by ordinary weekly pay at the end date for standard hours; if hours or pay changed, the Act's averaging would be needed and isn't applied.
- The reasons for leaving are matched to the Act's terms, and whether misconduct was serious is a legal question, so a result stands only if this describes what happened.
Sources
- Long Service Leave Act 1981 (NT), reprint as in force at 14 October 2015
Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, Northern Territory. Reprint as in force at 14 October 2015, released 14 October 2015. Checked 15 October 2026.
© Northern Territory of Australia Licence: NT Legislation terms of use: copyright, Northern Territory of Australia.
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Questions about this calculator
Something else on your mind? Ask us directly.
From when can a Northern Territory employee take long service leave?
What does serious misconduct change in the NT?
Why isn't a death before the full entitlement period worked out?
Does a part year count towards NT long service leave?
General information