First introduced in the 2010s, the ACT’s portable longer service leave scheme is intended to allowed workers in casual or insecure work to access long service leave entitlements, even if they switch employers. It already covers a range of industries scheduled to roll out for the hospitality food, hairdressing and beauty industries on April the first. But amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the territory’s government has paused the scheme’s expansion.
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00:00Having started in the industry as a casual bar worker, restaurateur Ross McQuinn sees
00:08merit in a portable long service leave scheme.
00:11I think that it will encourage retention in the industry.
00:14I think it solidifies it as a serious job, not just something that people do while they're
00:21waiting for a real job.
00:22But in tough economic times, he says the scheme's looming levy could push his business over
00:28the cliff.
00:29We came out of a post-COVID world and we had quite good trading conditions for a while
00:33and that's sort of dried up and everyone's aware of interest rates going up, cost of
00:37living and one of the first things to go is restaurants because it's discretionary spending.
00:43With that in mind, the government has put a 15 month pause on the expansion of its scheme.
00:48Household spending is up, but when it comes to accommodation and food services, spending
00:54is down.
00:56And I think this is evidence and Canberrans will know this by seeing many much-loved local
01:01hospitality businesses unfortunately ceasing.
01:04Building and construction, contract cleaning, the community sector and the security industry
01:10are all already covered by the portable long service leave scheme, where employers register
01:15and pay a set levy on the gross ordinary wages of eligible employees.
01:21The government is then liable for the workers' pay if and when they take their long service
01:25entitlement, even if they change jobs.
01:28It recognises the sort of work environments that we have now.
01:33It's not necessarily the case that people work for the one employer for decades.
01:39Long time advocate for the scheme, Lyndall Ryan, says it's made a big difference for
01:43workers when businesses have gone under.
01:46Because employers have been paying long service leave continuously and because our long service
01:52leave authority is active in pursuing employers when they don't.
01:57People have been collapsed without anything, any of their entitlements preserved, but their
02:03long service leave was safe.
02:05If you were going to do it, this is the worst possible time to implement it.
02:09Industry groups have welcomed the pause of the scheme's expansion, even if they didn't
02:13agree with the policy in the first place.
02:16Long service leave ultimately is supposed to reward long service to an employer.
02:20It doesn't make a lot of sense to create a blanket entitlement.
02:24The government argues the levy is likely to go down over time, and the scheme levels the
02:29playing field by ensuring all in the sector are chipping in for long service leave.
02:34When businesses talk about this being an impost on them, I really urge them to think holistically
02:38about the industry, making it a great place for people to make a career out of.
02:43Some business owners, like Ross McQuinn, think the scheme would work better if it covered
02:48the entire private sector and had greater recognition and exchangeability between jurisdictions.
02:54He's hoping changes are made before the expansion goes ahead in July next year.