Special service credits for building and construction workers
Apply for special service credits in the portable long service payments scheme if you are registered worker in NSW but unable to work due to illness, injury, training, or doing unpaid work.
When you can apply for special service credits
Registered workers who are not working in the building and construction industry can have their service credited due to:
- illness
- injury
- training, or
- doing unpaid work.
Apply for special service credits if one of these categories applies to you on the Worker Portal.
If you were unable to work due to illness or injury
Registered workers who are (or were) ill or injured may be able to have periods of illness and injury added to their long service record. This applies to workers and self-employed workers, regardless of whether the illness or injury was work related.
Maximum amount of medical service credits
Additional days can be added in the financial year in which your employment was terminated, such as from termination date to 30 June, and a further 220 days for each of the next 3 years ending 30 June.
The maximum service that can be added in any financial year (including periods of illness or injury) is 220 days.
If your employment has been terminated, you should apply for medical service credits for periods of illness or injury after termination.
If your employment has not been terminated and you are on paid sick leave or worker's compensation, your employer should continue to record your service.
If you are a contractor, you should apply for medical service credits for any periods where you could not work due to illness or injury.
Further medical service credits cannot be added after you have been paid a long service payment on the basis of ‘leaving’ the building industry, as your registration will be cancelled and removed from the register.
If you are going to be off work for a long time and want to receive your full allocation of medical service credits, you must wait until you've received the maximum amount of medical service credits before claiming.
Light duties after an injury
If you’re injured while doing building and construction work, and you move to light duties during your recovery, you can still earn service credits, even if the light duties are not in building and construction.
To qualify, the worker needs to provide the following evidence:
- The injury occurred while performing building and construction work.
- Light duties are part of a rehabilitation program.
- The number of days of light duties.
If you are taking building and construction training courses
Where a registered worker is unemployed and undertakes a training course to enhance their chances of re-employment in the industry, they may be able to have that period added to their recorded service.
To qualify, the course must be accepted by Long Service Corporation (LSC) as being relevant to the building industry. The worker also needs to provide evidence of the following:
- The worker's employment has been terminated.
- The worker's last employment was in the building and construction industry.
- The worker must not have performed paid work since the termination of their employment.
- The number of days spent undertaking the course.
If you performed speculative building work
A registered worker who performs unpaid building and construction work on a residential building constructed or acquired solely for the purposes of sale is able to apply for service credits for the time spent doing that work.
To qualify, the worker needs to provide the following evidence:
- They were an owner or part-owner of the property on which the work was undertaken.
- The date of completion of work.
- The period involved.
- The long service levy paid relative to the property where work was undertaken.
- The property has been sold.
If you performed voluntary emergency building work
If a registered worker performs voluntary building and construction work in NSW which is related to a declared emergency, the period of voluntary work may be added to the worker's recorded service.
To qualify, the worker needs to provide evidence of the following:
- An emergency was declared.
- The location of the work performed.
- The applicant undertook the work.
- The work was performed voluntarily.
- The number of days involved.