Before you claim
Important things to know before claiming your long service payment
Leave the industry with less than 10 years recorded service
If you leave the industry and claim a payment with less than 10 years recorded service, your registration will then be cancelled. You will no longer be able to record any service credits.
If you return to work in the building and construction industry, you can re-register and start all over again. However you cannot start recording service credits again until one year after the date of your long service payment.
Missing service credits
It is your responsibility to ensure your service record is correct before applying for a long service payment.
Adjustments cannot be made after a claim has been paid.
Check your service record is up to date in the Worker Portal before you apply for a payment.
Learn more about how to get service credits.
Unable to work due to sickness or injury
If you have been unable to work due to sickness or injury, you may be able to have that time added to your service record. This applies to both workers on wages and self-employed people. Learn more on the special service credits page.
Special Service Credits
If you are not doing your normal paid work in the industry, you may still be able to get service credits if you are:
- Undertaking training courses
- Performing voluntary emergency work
- Performing light duties after an injury
- Engaged in speculative building work
Service credits for work before your registration date
Workers cannot be credited with Service before their registration date. The fixing of an earlier registration date is possible where circumstances are accepted by the Corporation to have prevented a person from registering earlier.
If you think you have circumstances which may allow the fixing of an earlier registration date you should contact the Corporation. You will also need to provide the reason why you did not question your recorded service total earlier. Learn more about recognition of past service in Get service credits section.
Employer not trading
Accepting long service payments from employers ceasing trading
If you are offered a long service entitlement as part of a termination payment by a liquidator we recommend you first check with us before accepting this payment.
Sometimes payments offered by the liquidators are less than your full entitlement.
Also note the following:
- A top-up of the employer part paid benefit to what the worker should have received is possible from the Corporation only if the worker was eligible to make a claim for a long service payment from the Corporation at the time they accepted the employer part paid benefit. This top-up payment must be applied for within three months of taking the alternative benefit from the employer.
- If the worker is not entitled to make a claim for a long service payment from the Corporation then those years for which a worker receives any long service benefit from an employer cannot be claimed as part of the total service of the worker at any time in future. In this situation the worker needs to make sure that the amount received from the employer exceeds the amount which could be claimed from the Corporation in future when eligibility for a claim is reached.
For more information: If your employer ceases trading.
Please note that we may contact your current or previous employer to verify information when processing your claim.
