How Much Annual Leave Do You Get in Australia?
Full-time and part-time employees in Australia receive 4 weeks (20 days) of paid annual leave per year under the National Employment Standards (NES).
The entitlement is set by the Fair Work Act 2009 and applies to every full-time and part-time employee in the national workplace relations system, which covers most employees in Australia, whatever their industry or salary. Shift workers covered by an Award or registered agreement receive 5 weeks (25 days) per year. Annual leave accrues progressively from an employee's first day of work, so a new hire does not need to wait 12 months before requesting time off.
Part-time employees receive the same 4-week entitlement on a pro-rata basis. An employee working 20 ordinary hours per week accrues 80 hours of annual leave per year instead of the 152 hours a full-time employee on a 38-hour week accumulates. Casual employees do not accrue annual leave at all; their 25% casual loading compensates for the absence of leave entitlements, redundancy pay, and notice periods. Use our Leave Calculator to see your accrued balance and its payout value from your annual base salary and years of service.
What Are the Annual Leave Entitlements for Each Employment Type?
Annual leave entitlements differ based on employment type, with casual employees receiving no annual leave and shift workers receiving an extra week compared to standard full-time employees.
| Employment Type | Annual Leave (Weeks) | Hours/Year (38hr week) | Leave Loading | Paid Out on Termination |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time | 4 weeks | 152 hours | 17.5% (if Award applies) | Yes |
| Part-time | 4 weeks (pro-rata) | Pro-rata (e.g., 80 hrs at 20hr/wk) | 17.5% (if Award applies) | Yes |
| Shift worker | 5 weeks | 190 hours | 17.5% or penalty rate comparison | Yes |
| Casual | 0 weeks | 0 hours | N/A (25% casual loading instead) | No |
| Fixed-term contract | 4 weeks | 152 hours | Per contract/Award | Yes (at contract end) |
Fixed-term contract employees accrue leave identically to permanent employees. If the contract ends and is not renewed, all accrued leave is paid out in the final pay. Employees transitioning from casual to permanent begin accruing annual leave from the date of conversion. Prior casual service does not count toward leave accrual, but it may count toward long service leave in some states.
How Is Annual Leave Calculated?
Annual leave accrues at a rate of 1/13 of an employee's ordinary hours each 4-week cycle, which equates to approximately 2.923 hours per week for a 38-hour full-time employee.
The Fair Work Act prescribes progressive accrual, not lump-sum crediting. Every pay period, your leave balance increases by a fraction of your annual entitlement. Below is a step-by-step calculation for a full-time employee working 38 hours per week.
- Determine ordinary weekly hours. Standard full-time hours are 38 per week under most Awards. Part-time employees use their contracted ordinary hours.
- Calculate annual entitlement in hours. Multiply ordinary weekly hours by 4 weeks: 38 × 4 = 152 hours per year.
- Derive the per-week accrual rate. Divide the annual entitlement by 52: 152 ÷ 52 = 2.923 hours per week.
- Apply to pay period. For fortnightly payroll: 2.923 × 2 = 5.846 hours per fortnight. For monthly payroll: 152 ÷ 12 = 12.667 hours per month.
- Check balance. Unused leave rolls over each year with no expiry under the NES. After 24 months without taking leave, a full-time employee holds 304 hours (40 days).
Worked Example: Pro-Rata Accrual for a Part-Time Employee
A part-time employee works 24 ordinary hours per week. The annual leave entitlement is 24 × 4 = 96 hours per year. After 7 months of employment, the accrued balance is 96 × (7 ÷ 12) = 56 hours (7 days). This accrual happens automatically regardless of whether the employee has requested leave.
Accrual continues during paid leave (annual leave, personal leave, family and domestic violence leave, long service leave) and during community service leave, including jury duty. It does not accrue during unpaid annual leave, unpaid sick or carer's leave, or unpaid parental leave. Your employer's payroll system calculates accrual each pay cycle. Check your payslip: our Payslip Guide explains where to find your leave balance.
What Is Leave Loading?
Leave loading is an additional 17.5% payment on top of base pay that eligible employees receive when they take annual leave.
The 17.5% rate originated in the 1970s to compensate shift workers, weekend workers, and overtime-dependent employees for the penalty rates and allowances they forgo while on leave. Leave loading is not a universal NES entitlement: it depends on the applicable Award, enterprise agreement, or individual employment contract.
Some modern enterprise agreements replace leave loading with a higher base hourly rate. Employees covered by the General Retail Industry Award, the Hospitality Industry Award, and the Clerks—Private Sector Award all receive 17.5% leave loading. Employees on individual contracts without Award coverage receive leave loading only if their contract specifically includes it.
Leave Loading Worked Example
Step 1 — Weekly base pay: $80,000 ÷ 52 = $1,538.46
Step 2 — Leave loading per week: $1,538.46 × 17.5% = $269.23
Step 3 — Total per week on leave: $1,538.46 + $269.23 = $1,807.69
Step 4 — Total for 2 weeks: $1,807.69 × 2 = $3,615.38
The employee receives an additional $538.46 in leave loading across the 2-week period. This amount is taxable income and is included in gross pay for PAYG withholding purposes. Use the Income Tax Calculator to estimate the tax impact.
Leave Loading vs Penalty Rates: Which Is Higher?
Some Awards pay the greater of two amounts on annual leave: the employee receives either 17.5% leave loading or the penalty rates and shift loadings they would have earned, whichever amount is higher. The employer calculates both scenarios and pays the greater sum. For a nurse regularly working Saturday and Sunday shifts at 150% and 175% penalty rates, the penalty-rate comparison often exceeds the 17.5% loading. For a Monday-to-Friday office worker, the 17.5% loading is typically the higher amount. Consult our Overtime & Penalty Rates Guide for a full breakdown of penalty rate calculations.
How Is Annual Leave Paid Out on Termination?
All accrued but untaken annual leave must be paid out in the employee's final pay, regardless of whether the termination is a resignation, redundancy, dismissal, or end of contract.
The payout covers every hour of accumulated leave at the employee's base rate of pay at the time of termination. Leave loading is also included in the payout if the employee's Award, enterprise agreement, or contract provides for it. The payout is calculated as follows:
- Determine accrued hours. Include all carried-over leave plus pro-rata accrual for the current period.
- Calculate hourly rate. For a $90,000 salary on 38 hours/week: $90,000 ÷ (52 × 38) = $45.55 per hour.
- Multiply. If the employee has 156 accrued hours: 156 × $45.55 = $7,105.80.
- Add leave loading (if applicable). $7,105.80 × 17.5% = $1,243.51, bringing the total payout to $8,349.31.
How Is the Annual Leave Payout Taxed?
If you resign, retire or are dismissed, unused annual leave and leave loading that accrued on or after 18 August 1993 are taxed at your marginal tax rate. Your employer works out the withholding by spreading the payout across a year of normal pay periods, so it is not withheld as if a whole year's income arrived in one pay. Any part that accrued before 18 August 1993 is withheld at 32%. If you leave because of a genuine redundancy, invalidity or an early retirement scheme, your employer withholds 32% of the whole unused annual leave and leave loading payment, whatever date it accrued. Use the Redundancy Pay Calculator to model your total final pay including leave, notice, and redundancy amounts.
Can Your Employer Force You to Take Annual Leave?
Yes, employers can direct employees to take annual leave in two specific situations: during a business shutdown and when the employee has an excessive leave balance.
Many Awards and enterprise agreements include shutdown clauses covering periods such as Christmas, Easter, and mid-year breaks. Where your award or agreement allows a shutdown, the employer must follow its notice rules, which differ between awards. For example, one food manufacturing award requires at least 28 days' written notice, but that is not a general rule. Check your own award or agreement, or see Christmas shutdown and annual leave. If the employee has insufficient accrued leave, the employer and employee can agree to take the time as unpaid leave or as leave in advance.
Excessive leave provisions apply when an employee's balance exceeds 8 weeks (304 hours for full-time) or 10 weeks for shift workers. The employer must first genuinely attempt to reach agreement on reducing the balance. If agreement cannot be reached within a reasonable period, the employer can issue a written direction requiring the employee to take a specified amount of leave. The direction must not reduce the balance below 6 weeks, must provide at least 8 weeks' notice, and must not require the employee to take fewer than 1 week at a time.
For a worked example of how many days a Christmas closure uses, and how public holidays inside it are treated, see the Christmas shutdown and annual leave guide.
Outside these situations, an employer cannot unreasonably refuse a leave request. The Fair Work Act requires that requests and refusals be "reasonable," considering business needs, the employee's personal circumstances, and the amount of notice given.
What Is the Difference Between Annual Leave and Personal Leave?
Annual leave is paid time off for rest and recreation, while personal/carer's leave covers absences due to illness, injury, or caring for a family member.
| Feature | Annual Leave | Personal/Carer's Leave |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time entitlement | 4 weeks (20 days) | 10 days per year |
| Purpose | Rest, recreation, holidays | Illness, injury, caring responsibilities |
| Accumulates | Yes, no cap under NES | Yes, no cap under NES |
| Paid out on termination | Yes | No |
| Leave loading applies | Yes (if Award provides) | No |
| Evidence required | No | Medical certificate or statutory declaration |
| Casual employees | Not entitled | Not entitled (unpaid carer's leave only) |
Personal leave has no cash value at the end of employment. An employee with 45 accumulated sick days who resigns receives $0 for that balance. Annual leave, by contrast, converts to a cash payment in the final pay. This distinction makes annual leave a more valuable financial entitlement. Employees should use personal leave when genuinely unwell rather than drawing on annual leave, which preserves the leave balance and its eventual payout value.
Compassionate leave (2 days per occasion) and paid family and domestic violence leave (10 days per year) are separate NES entitlements that do not reduce annual or personal leave balances.
How Does Long Service Leave Compare Across Australian States?
Long service leave is governed by state and territory legislation, not the federal NES, and the qualifying period ranges from 7 years in the ACT to 10 years in most other jurisdictions.
Unlike annual leave, which is nationally uniform, long service leave rules vary significantly between states. The table below compares the key parameters across all 8 states and territories.
| State/Territory | Qualifying Period | Entitlement | Pro-Rata on Termination |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | 10 years | 8.667 weeks | After 5 years (some circumstances) |
| VIC | 7 years | 8.667 weeks after 10 years | After 7 years |
| QLD | 10 years | 8.667 weeks | After 7 years |
| WA | 10 years | 8.667 weeks | After 7 years (retrenchment) |
| SA | 10 years | 13 weeks | After 7 years |
| TAS | 10 years | 8.667 weeks | After 7 years |
| ACT | 7 years | 6.07 weeks | After 5 years |
| NT | 10 years | 13 weeks (3 months) | After 7 years |
South Australia and the Northern Territory offer the most generous long service leave at 13 weeks after 10 years. Victoria and the ACT have the shortest qualifying periods at 7 years. Tax on an unused long service leave payout depends on when the leave accrued. For service before 16 August 1978, only 5% of that part is taxed, at your marginal rates. For service from 16 August 1978 to 17 August 1993, your employer withholds 32%. Service after 17 August 1993 is taxed at your marginal rates, or withheld at 32% if you leave because of a genuine redundancy, invalidity or an early retirement scheme. Use our Take-Home Pay Calculator to model how a long service leave payout affects your overall take-home pay.
What Changed for Annual Leave in FY2026-27?
The core annual leave entitlement of 4 weeks per year is unchanged for FY2026-27, but several related rules affect how leave interacts with pay, tax, and superannuation. The first three below started on 1 July 2026.
- Lower tax on the second bracket: The rate on income from $18,201 to $45,000 fell from 16% to 15%, worth up to $268 a year. Leave you take, and unused leave paid out when you resign or are dismissed, is taxed at your marginal rate, so the change reaches that pay too.
- Payday Super: The SG rate stays at 12% (it reached 12% on 1 July 2025), but from 1 July 2026 super on annual leave you take while employed is due with the pay that includes it and must reach the fund within 7 business days. Leave loading attracts super unless it is clearly linked to a lost opportunity to work overtime. Unused annual leave and leave loading paid out when your job ends are not ordinary time earnings, so no SG is due on that payout unless your award or agreement requires it.
- National minimum wage increase: The Fair Work Commission's 2026 Annual Wage Review set the national minimum wage at $26.44 per hour ($1,004.90 per week) from 1 July 2026. Leave loading calculations for minimum-wage workers now use this higher base.
- Right to disconnect: From 26 August 2024 (small businesses from 26 August 2025), employees have the right to refuse contact outside working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable, and that includes periods of annual leave.
- Casual conversion: Casual employees who convert to permanent employment begin accruing annual leave from the conversion date. Prior casual service does not generate retrospective leave accrual.
Consult the Tax Brackets Guide for the full FY2026-27 schedule of rates and thresholds applicable to leave payouts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How this guide works▼
Leave entitlement data is sourced from the Fair Work Ombudsman and the National Employment Standards. State-specific long service leave information is sourced from relevant state legislation. Tax rates and superannuation thresholds reflect FY2026-27 values published by the Australian Taxation Office.
Sources & References
- 1Annual leave, Fair Work Ombudsman
- 2National Employment Standards, Fair Work Ombudsman
- 3Long service leave, Fair Work Ombudsman
- 4Leave loading, Fair Work Ombudsman
Last verified: 9 October 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.
Anita Bell
AuthorFounder & Senior Bookkeeper
Accountancy degree (2015); certified in Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, Saasu, Zoho and Reckon One
Anita Bell earned her accountancy degree in 2015 and has worked as a senior bookkeeper with Prime Bookkeeping for over 5 years. This built her skills in Australian and New Zealand tax legislation and industry regulations. She is certified in Xero, QuickBooks Online, MYOB, Saasu, Zoho and Reckon One, and works with payroll and rostering software including Gusto, Deputy, Tsheets and KeyPay. She has strong experience in hospitality, building and construction, financial services, real estate, ecommerce, and medical and health services.
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