Enhancing certainty and fairness: Report of the Coal LSL review

Summary of the key findings of the report

The Coal LSL Scheme is an Australian Government initiative dating back to 1949. Since 1992, the Coal LSL Corporation has administered long service leave (LSL) entitlements on behalf of eligible employees in the black coal mining industry. Both the industry and the corporation have undergone significant change in the subsequent years.

The review identified that, for a large majority of employees engaged in permanent positions in the black coal mining industry, the scheme meets its fundamental objective in connecting each employee with their LSL entitlement. However, the review also identified that the scheme has areas for improvement. In particular around:

• employees engaged through newer employment models (including the treatment of casual employees); 
• employees employed by an employer who operates at coal mines and other sites
• employees who transfer between roles on site, or employers.

The review has collated key findings across the 4 central areas of enquiry:

1. coverage and treatment;
2. compliance and enforcement;
3. governance; and
4. administrative processes.

The review forms the view that a number of pressing issues can be addressed by legislative reform, coupled with non-legislative options to improve the current performance of the scheme over the short to medium period. This approach balances the need to address current shortcomings, while allowing time for longer-term deliberations about potential structural reform to occur in parallel with further evolutions in the black coal mining industry and the use of portable LSL schemes in Australia.

The review proposes 20 recommendations related to the 4 central areas of enquiry.