Canberra workers changing jobs within the community sector will carry over their accrued long-service leave from next year under new ACT laws.
The Legislative Assembly passed the Long Service Leave (Community Sector) Act yesterday, giving child-care workers, youth workers, paid carers and other community service providers the same rights enjoyed by federal and ACT public servants, as well as construction workers and cleaners.
The ACT Council of Social Service welcomed the new laws, which it hopes will increase staff retention and attract more workers to the sector.
The council's director, Roslyn Dundas, said more would need to be done to appropriately remunerate community sector staff for their work, but the new provisions were a step in the right direction.
''This is not the solution; it's part of a bigger picture of solutions, but at the core of it is the need to truly value the work that the community sector does and to remunerate the staff who do that work adequately,'' Ms Dundas said.
ACT Industrial Relations Minister Katy Gallagher said the new laws, which will start from July 1 next year, would facilitate movement within the sector.
The Government has committed $650,000 to start a fund that will collect and manage long-service leave contributions from employers to facilitate the reform.
In the ACT, long-service leave can be claimed after seven years' employment.
The Government's Bill passed with the support of the Greens.
Greens leader Meredith Hunter said the community sector should have the same entitlements as other industries.
''It is only right that community sector workers have access to an entitlement that many other workers in the public sector have had for many, many years.''
The Opposition voted against the laws on the grounds that they would increase costs for some community organisations, as many dipped into forfeited long-service-leave employee contributions to supplement their operations.
Under the laws, employers will have no access to former employees' contributions as the fund will hold the money.
Shadow industrial relations minister Vicki Dunne said this could lead to higher child-care costs.
''[That] money will stay in the authority fund and it will not be available for the sector to use, and they use that very frugal and good way so they can eke out their services,'' Mrs Dunne said.
''This is where they say they will see a big hit to their cash flow.''
Ms Dundas said there would be some increased costs but they would be partially offset by improved staff retention rates.
Ms Hunter also said Mrs Dunne's argument was overly simplistic.
''If you can keep down your turnover of staff, it also has benefits for the children who will be coming to child care through to the elderly person receiving a service in their home, or the young person receiving a homelessness service,'' the Greens leader said.