Long service leave in New Zealand: who offers it, how it is earned and how much it pays
Long service leave is not a legal entitlement in New Zealand: the Holidays Act 2003 does not require any employer to provide it, and it exists only where an employment agreement or workplace policy grants it (Employment New Zealand, Long service leave, retrieved 9 September 2026). Most commonly offered in the Public Service, the leading pattern is 2 weeks after 10 years, then 1 week every 5 years after (Public Service Commission, Long Service Leave 2023, retrieved 9 September 2026).
Why it isn't in the Holidays Act
Unlike annual leave, sick leave, bereavement leave and public holidays, long service leave has never been a statutory minimum in New Zealand. Employment New Zealand (retrieved 9 September 2026) classes it alongside other negotiated extras, such as study leave or additional annual leave, that employers can choose to offer as part of an employment agreement or workplace policy, but are never required to.
| Leave type | Legal minimum required? | Where it's set |
|---|---|---|
| Annual holidays | Yes, 4 weeks a year | Holidays Act 2003 |
| Sick leave | Yes, 10 days a year | Holidays Act 2003 |
| Bereavement leave | Yes, 3 or 1 days | Holidays Act 2003 |
| Public holidays | Yes, up to 12 days | Holidays Act 2003 |
| Long service leave | No | Employment agreement or workplace policy only |
(Employment New Zealand, Other types of leave, retrieved 9 September 2026.)
Is long service leave a legal requirement in NZ?
No. There is no statute requiring New Zealand employers to offer long service leave. It exists only where it has been negotiated into an employment agreement, a collective agreement, or set out in an internal workplace policy, and an employer can withdraw or decline to offer it entirely, subject to whatever their existing agreements already promise (Employment New Zealand, Long service leave, retrieved 9 September 2026).
Which employers offer long service leave?
It is most common in the Public Service and wider state sector, where 89% of Public Service collective agreements included a long service leave entitlement as at December 2022, along with some larger private-sector employers and a handful of collective agreements in sectors such as education and utilities (Public Service Commission, Fact Sheet: Long Service Leave, retrieved 9 September 2026). Outside these sectors, most private employers in New Zealand do not offer it at all.
How many years of service do you need for long service leave?
Among Public Service agreements that offer it, the most common pattern, covering 59% of those agreements, is an initial entitlement of 2 weeks after 10 years' continuous service, followed by 1 week every 5 years after that. A smaller share, 21% of agreements, brings the initial entitlement forward to 1 week after the first 5 years (Public Service Commission, Fact Sheet: Long Service Leave, retrieved 9 September 2026). Cabinet set a maximum entitlement guideline for the Public Service in 2009 of 2 weeks after 10 years and 1 week for every subsequent 5 years, though this table shows the maximum, not every agreement's actual terms.
| Public Service pattern | Share of agreements offering long service leave | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks after 10 years, then 1 week every 5 years (the 2009 Cabinet maximum) | 59% | Public Service Commission, 2023 |
| 1 week after every 5 years from the start | 21% | Public Service Commission, 2023 |
| Agreements with a capped maximum entitlement | 7.5% | Public Service Commission, 2023 |
| Public Service collective agreements including any long service leave clause | 89% | Public Service Commission, 2023 |
(Public Service Commission, Fact Sheet: Long Service Leave, data as at 1 December 2022, retrieved 9 September 2026.) These figures cover Public Service collective agreements specifically; individual employment agreements, other state sector agencies, and private-sector employers are not included in this dataset and may offer different terms.
Is long service leave paid out if I resign?
There is no statutory answer, because there is no statutory entitlement. Whether unused long service leave is paid out on resignation, and at what rate, depends entirely on the wording of the specific employment agreement or workplace policy that created it. Check your own agreement's long service leave clause directly, since some schemes pay it out like annual leave and others simply forfeit it if you leave before qualifying.
Does the public sector still offer long service leave in NZ?
Yes, though not universally. As at December 2022, 89% of Public Service collective agreements included a long service leave clause, and there has been some movement toward bringing the first entitlement forward (from 20 years to 10 years, or in some cases 5 years) rather than removing the benefit (Public Service Commission, Fact Sheet: Long Service Leave, retrieved 9 September 2026). Teachers, police and other public sector workforces typically have their own long service or sabbatical provisions set out in their specific collective agreement, which is worth checking directly with your union or employer rather than assuming a single nationwide rate.
Does long service leave count toward the Employment Leave Act 2026 changes?
No. The Employment Leave Act 2026, due to replace the Holidays Act from 6 August 2028, changes how annual leave, sick leave, bereavement leave, family violence leave and public holidays are earned and paid; long service leave is not a statutory entitlement and sits outside the Holidays Act entirely, so the reform does not touch it. See our employment leave law changes page for what is actually changing.
Can my employer take long service leave away once it's been offered?
If long service leave is written into your individual or collective employment agreement, your employer cannot unilaterally remove it without following the normal process for varying an employment agreement, which generally requires your agreement or, for a collective agreement, a bargaining process with your union. A discretionary workplace policy not built into the agreement itself is more easily changed by the employer, but should still be done transparently.
How is long service leave different from annual leave?
Annual leave is the 4-week statutory minimum every employee is entitled to under the Holidays Act 2003 after 12 months' employment; see our annual leave entitlement guide for the full detail. Long service leave, where it exists, is an additional, employer-negotiated benefit layered on top, usually only after many years of continuous service, and it is calculated, taken and paid out according to whatever the specific agreement says, not the Holidays Act.
What should I check in my own employment agreement?
Search your employment agreement or, if you are covered by one, your collective agreement, for terms like "long service leave", "service leave" or "sabbatical leave". If nothing appears, you most likely do not have a long service leave entitlement, and your leave rights are limited to the statutory minimums covered in our annual leave, public holiday pay and sick leave guides. If you are unsure how to read your own agreement's leave clauses, Employment New Zealand's guide to employment agreements is the primary reference, alongside our own bereavement leave guide for that specific statutory entitlement.
Is long service leave paid at your normal rate?
There is no statutory formula, since there is no statutory entitlement. Where an agreement provides long service leave, it typically specifies the pay rate directly, often the employee's ordinary pay rate at the time the leave is taken, similar in principle to how annual leave is paid at the higher of ordinary weekly pay or average weekly earnings, but you need to check the specific clause rather than assume it matches the Holidays Act formula.
Does changing employer forfeit any long service leave I've built up?
Almost always, yes. Long service leave is typically tied to continuous service with one specific employer, and it does not automatically transfer if you resign and join a new organisation, even within the same industry, unless the two employers have a specific transfer-of-undertakings agreement in place. This is different from annual leave, which is paid out in full on resignation regardless of employer; see our annual leave entitlement guide for that distinction.
Can I negotiate long service leave into a new employment agreement?
Yes, in principle. Because it is not a statutory entitlement, there is nothing stopping an employee from asking for a long service leave clause during salary or contract negotiations, particularly in a unionised or public-sector-adjacent role. Whether an employer agrees is entirely commercial, and there is no published New Zealand data on how often such requests succeed outside the sectors already covered in this guide.
Does part-time work affect a long service leave entitlement?
Where an agreement provides long service leave, most schemes measure length of service in years rather than hours worked, so a part-time employee typically qualifies on the same service-year timeline as a full-time employee, though the exact wording of your own agreement is the only reliable answer. This mirrors how annual leave entitlement is calculated by weeks worked, not hours, but long service leave clauses are not standardised the way the Holidays Act is.
What is the difference between long service leave and a sabbatical?
The terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but a sabbatical typically refers to an extended period of leave, often unpaid or partly paid, granted for a specific purpose such as study or research, while long service leave is usually a shorter, paid block granted simply in recognition of tenure. Some collective agreements, including some teaching agreements, use "study leave" or "sabbatical leave" as the actual clause name for what functions as long service leave; check the specific agreement's wording rather than the label.
Is long service leave taxed the same as normal pay?
Where it is paid as ordinary salary or wages during a period of leave, it is taxed through PAYE the same as any other pay. There is no separate published Inland Revenue tax treatment for long service leave payments; it is simply treated as employment income when paid.
Where this sits in the wider leave picture
Long service leave is the one entitlement in this cluster that has no statutory floor at all, which makes it easy to confuse with the leave types that do.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is long service leave required by law? | No |
| What's the most common Public Service pattern? | 2 weeks after 10 years, 1 week every 5 years after |
| Who is most likely to have it? | Public Service and some state sector or unionised private employers |
| Where is it recorded? | Your individual or collective employment agreement, or a workplace policy |
| What happens on resignation? | Entirely dependent on the specific agreement's wording |
(Employment New Zealand; Public Service Commission, Fact Sheet: Long Service Leave, retrieved 9 September 2026.)
Long service leave sits outside the Employment Leave Act 2026 reform too: because it was never a statutory minimum, the incoming Act does not create one either. Our employment leave law changes page covers what is changing across annual leave, sick leave, bereavement leave and public holidays instead, and how annual leave is calculated covers the one entitlement everyone can rely on regardless of what their agreement says about long service leave.
If you are checking your own entitlements ahead of resigning or being made redundant, our guides to notice periods in NZ, redundancy pay in NZ and the first 30 days after redundancy cover what is legally owed on top of any long service leave your agreement provides, and cashing out annual leave and how annual leave pay is calculated cover the entitlement that is guaranteed. Sick leave entitlement in NZ and public holiday pay round out the statutory picture, and the leave entitlements hub indexes every guide in this cluster.
Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name. Start a free comparison if you would like a licensed adviser to review your own cover.
Adviser's view
QuoteHub's read is that the question most people should actually be asking is not how much long service leave they're owed, since for most private-sector employees the honest answer is none, but whether their employment agreement contains any additional leave at all beyond the Holidays Act minimum, which is worth checking line by line rather than assuming.
Compare your cover with a licensed NZ adviser · free, no obligation.
Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Long Service Leave NZ: Who Gets It and How Much. www.quotehub.co.nz/guides/leave-entitlements/long-service-leave-nz. Updated 2026-09-09.
References
- Employment New Zealand: Long service leave
- Employment New Zealand: Other types of leave
- Public Service Commission: Fact Sheet: Long Service Leave (PDF, data as at 1 December 2022)
- Employment New Zealand: Employment agreements
Explore related pages: Life Insurance, Income Protection, Health Insurance, Trauma Insurance, What You Get.