I came up for Long Service Leave in Australia, means I get about 9 weeks PAID holiday. So last year booked a fucken ridiculously cheap airfare to Kuala Lumpur and tomorrow, well,I go!
Ten days in Malaysia, then another four weeks in Thailand…unfortunately it happens to be the ‘burning season’ in Thailand so the air quality ain’t great. But I have packed face-masks and hope to have a grand time!
I can’t wait. 
For those of us from the northern half, what is a “Long Service Leave”?
Is it a periodic long vacation mandated by the government? Or is it something unique to your job?
I used to deliver to a mining camp where the dust was so severe* the feds had mandated the workers at that particular facility got 12 paid weeks off every 7 years for their lungs to clear. This made me wonder if your job was like that, or if it was typical for workers in your country.
*Dust was so corrosive it ate the paint from the worker’s cars. The exit from the company parking lot was thru an automatic car wash.
And WooHoo for your vacation! Have fun!
It is indeed mandated by the govt, so for ten years continuous employment (with the same employer) you are entitled to some weeks of paid leave. The formula is so convoluted and weird that despite reading the act umpteen times, I’m still not exactly sure how many weeks leave I have, but I’m taking 6 weeks this round and will get more later in the year when I apply.
Mind you, being a ‘casual’ worker, I don’t get any sick leave, holiday leave, public holiday leave or anything else. So if I’m sick, it sucks. When the company closes its doors for two weeks over Xmas, same. No workie-no pay.
So yeah, I’m very happy it is compulsory for them to cough up THIS leave, because I’m damned sure they’d try to find a way out of it if they could.