What is the Australian minimum annual leave?

The National Employment Standards give full-time and part-time employees 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year, based on their ordinary hours of work. Certain shift workers qualify for 5 weeks. Leave accrues progressively rather than being granted all at once.

How does accrual work?

Leave accrues for every ordinary hour worked at a rate of the weeks of entitlement divided by 52. For a standard worker that is 4 over 52, so about 0.0769 hours of leave per ordinary hour. The tool multiplies this by the hours you worked to give accrued leave.

How is part-time leave calculated?

Part-time employees accrue the same 4 weeks, but a week is measured by their ordinary hours. Someone working 20 ordinary hours a week accrues 4 times 20, so 80 hours of leave a year. Enter their actual ordinary hours per week.

Do casual employees get annual leave?

No. Casual employees are not entitled to paid annual leave and instead receive a casual loading, commonly 25%, to compensate. When a casual converts to permanent employment, paid leave begins accruing from the conversion date forward.

Does the payout include leave loading?

The payout figure shown is the base value, accrued hours times your hourly rate. Many awards and agreements add annual leave loading, often 17.5%, on termination payouts. Add that on top of the base figure where it applies to the employee.

Australia Annual Leave Entitlement Calculator

Australian annual leave is set by the National Employment Standards at four weeks a year — five for qualifying shift workers — and accrues steadily as you work. This calculator computes that accrual from ordinary hours and values the leave balance for an end-of-employment payout.

How it works

Entitlement is a number of weeks of ordinary hours, and it accrues per hour worked at a fixed fraction of the year:

full-year hours      = weeks of entitlement × ordinary hours per week
accrual per hour     = weeks of entitlement / 52
accrued leave hours  = ordinary hours worked × accrual per hour
payout (base)        = accrued leave hours × hourly rate

A standard worker accrues about 0.0769 hours of leave for each ordinary hour, so a full 52-week year reaches the four-week entitlement.

Example and notes

A full-time employee on 38 ordinary hours a week accrues 4 times 38, so 152 hours, across a full year. After 26 weeks they have accrued roughly 76 hours. Casual employees sit outside this system entirely: their loading replaces paid leave, and accrual only starts if and when they convert to permanent. On termination, add any applicable leave loading to the base payout the tool reports.