Australia annual leave calculator

Under the National Employment Standards (NES) in the Fair Work Act 2009 (s.87), full-time employees are entitled to 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year. Eligible shift workers are entitled to 5 weeks. Leave accrues progressively throughout the year based on ordinary hours worked — not as a lump sum at the start of the year.

Annual leave loading is an additional 17.5% payment on top of your ordinary pay when you take annual leave. It applies only to employees covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement that provides for it — not all employees receive it. Check your modern award (via the Fair Work Ombudsman website) or your enterprise agreement to see if it applies to you.

When your employment ends — for any reason, including resignation, redundancy, or termination — your employer must pay out all accrued but untaken annual leave at your base rate of pay. Leave loading may also apply to the payout depending on your award or agreement. This payment is treated as ordinary income and is fully taxable.

Yes, in certain circumstances. An employer can direct an employee to take annual leave if the direction is reasonable — for example, during a business shutdown over the Christmas/New Year period. Your modern award or enterprise agreement may also set rules about when leave can or must be taken. Employers cannot cash out more than 2 weeks of leave per year without written agreement.

No. Casual employees do not accrue annual leave under the NES. Instead, they receive a casual loading (typically 25% on top of the ordinary rate), which is intended to compensate for the absence of entitlements like annual leave and sick leave. If your employer has wrongly classified you as casual when you are in fact a regular employee, you may have a back-pay claim for unpaid leave.