Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts(1) The period of qualifying service of an employee with an employer for the purposes of this Act is the period during which the employee has been employed continuously with the employer, including any period that commenced before the commencement of this Act, but not including any period of employment in respect of which annual leave has already been granted or payment in lieu of annual leave has already been made.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, an employee shall be deemed not to break, or to have broken, continuity of service by reason of his or her absence from employment:
(a) brought about by the action of his employer with the intention or result of avoiding an obligation imposed on the employer by this Act; or
(b) on account of leave granted to the employee by the employer for accident or illness to the employee or other reasonable cause.
(3) The period during which an employee is or was absent from employment otherwise than on leave with pay granted by the employer or brought about by the action of the employer with the intention of avoiding an obligation imposed on the employer by this Act does not form part of the period of employment with that employer for the purposes of this Act.
(4) Where an employee is absent from employment for a reason other than a reason referred to in subsection (2), the employer shall inform that employee in writing that such absence shall be regarded as having broken the continuity of that employee's service.
(5) A notice under subsection (4) may be given by delivering the notice to the employee personally or by posting it to the last recorded address of the employee.
(6) Where an employee is employed in a corporation and, at any time prior, has been employed in one or more related corporations and the periods for which the employee was so employed are continuous with one another within the meaning of this section, the sum of those periods of employment shall, subject to this Act, be included in the current period of employment for the purposes of this Act.
(7) For the purposes of subsection (6), a corporation shall be deemed to be a related corporation if it is a subsidiary, holding or related corporation within the meaning of section 50 of the Corporations Act 2001.
(8) Where:
(a) all or part of a business, undertaking or establishment of an employer has been transferred to another employer; and
(b) a person, who at the time of the transfer, was an employee of the first-mentioned employer, transfers his or her service to that other employer,
the period of service with such other employer shall be deemed not to have been broken by reason of the transfer, and the period of service with the first-mentioned employer shall be deemed to be a period of service with the other employer.
(9) For the purposes of subsection (8), "transfer" includes transmission, conveyance, assignment or succession, whether by agreement, under will, in pursuance of letters of administration of a deceased person's estate or by operation of law.