A worked example
Sarah works full-time as a retail assistant in Melbourne, earning $28 per hour for a standard 38-hour week. She started her job on 1 July 2024 and wants to know her annual leave balance as at 31 March 2025.
Under the National Employment Standards, full-time employees accrue four weeks of annual leave per year. That's 152 hours annually (38 hours × 4 weeks), or roughly 2.923 hours per week.
Sarah has worked 39 weeks (1 July to 31 March). Her accrued leave is 39 × 2.923 = 114 hours, or exactly three weeks.
Her retail award includes 17.5% leave loading. Her base pay for 114 hours is $3,192 (114 × $28). The leave loading adds $558.60 (17.5% of $3,192). Her total leave value is $3,750.60.
If Sarah takes one week off now, she'd use 38 hours and receive $1,064 in her pay, plus $186.20 loading, totaling $1,250.20 for that week. She'd have 76 hours (two weeks) remaining in her balance.
State-by-state differences
Annual leave entitlements are governed by the Fair Work Act, which applies across all Australian states and territories. The baseline is identical whether you work in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, SA, Tasmania, ACT or the NT: four weeks for full-time workers, pro-rata for part-time.
- Shift workers: If you're a continuous shift worker (working regularly on Sundays and public holidays as part of a rotating roster), you get five weeks instead of four. This applies nationally but is more common in manufacturing hubs in Victoria and SA, and mining operations in WA and Queensland.
- Leave loading: The 17.5% loading isn't automatic. It depends on your award or enterprise agreement. Common in retail, hospitality and manufacturing awards, but many white-collar enterprise agreements exclude it entirely.
- Long service leave: This is separate from annual leave and varies significantly by state. NSW and VIC require 10 years for the full entitlement (with pro-rata payouts on termination after 5 and 7 years respectively in limited circumstances). Queensland gives the full 8.67 weeks at 10 years, with pro-rata payment on termination after 7 years. SA has its own pro-rata rules triggering after 7 years of continuous service.
- Public holidays: These don't affect annual leave accrual but vary by state (Melbourne Cup in metro Melbourne, Ekka in Brisbane). Your annual leave balance accrues independently of public holiday entitlements.
Common mistakes people make
- Assuming leave loading is automatic: Many employees think the 17.5% loading applies to everyone. It doesn't. You only get it if your award or enterprise agreement specifically includes it. Check your Fair Work instrument or ask HR, don't just assume it'll appear in your payout.
- Thinking casual workers accrue annual leave: Casuals don't get annual leave, they get a 25% loading on their hourly rate instead (which is meant to compensate for no leave). If you've been a long-term casual working regular hours, you might actually be a permanent employee misclassified, and entitled to back-pay of leave. Fair Work can help with this.
- Confusing calendar days with working days: Four weeks of annual leave means four weeks of your normal working pattern. If you work three days a week, four weeks is 12 days, not 20. The calculator needs your ordinary hours, not a standard full-time equivalent.
- Forgetting leave keeps accruing during paid leave: When you take annual leave, you continue accruing more leave during that time off. You're still employed, so the clock keeps ticking. It's only unpaid leave (like long service leave in some states or parental leave without pay) where accrual rules change.
- Not checking accrual during notice periods: You accrue annual leave right up until your employment ends, including during your notice period. If you work a four-week notice, that's another ~3 hours accrued that should be in your final payout.
What this calculator doesn't account for
This calculator provides a straightforward accrual estimate but doesn't account for several real-world complications. It won't factor in unpaid leave periods (which pause or reduce accrual under many awards), periods of workers compensation (where accrual rules vary by state), or complex part-time arrangements where your hours change frequently throughout the year.
It assumes a consistent hourly rate and doesn't handle salary sacrifice arrangements, where your nominal hourly rate for leave purposes might differ from your take-home calculations. If you've switched between casual, part-time and full-time during your employment, you'll need to calculate each period separately.
The calculator can't tell you if you're genuinely entitled to leave loading, what happens if your employer has an above-award arrangement, or whether your specific award has unusual accrual rules (some awards in healthcare and education have different formulas). For redundancy or dismissal scenarios, payout rules can be more complex than simple accrual.
Edge cases and nuances
If you're a shift worker, confirm you meet the Fair Work definition: regularly rostered Sundays and public holidays, not just one or the other. The fifth week entitlement is commonly misunderstood, some employers only recognise it for true continuous shift workers in 24/7 operations.
Teachers and education staff often have 'forced' shutdown periods (school holidays) where leave is directed. Your accrual rate might be calculated differently, sometimes as a higher percentage to account for the reduced flexibility. Check your state education department award.
If you're on unpaid parental leave beyond the 12 months, annual leave stops accruing in most awards (though the first 12 months usually count). Paid Parental Leave from Services Australia doesn't come from your employer, so it doesn't affect your employment-based leave accrual unless you're also on employer-funded leave simultaneously.
Maximum accrual policies (where employers cap how much leave you can bank) are legal if they're in your agreement and you've had reasonable opportunity to take leave. Fair Work considers 6-8 weeks a common threshold. If you're approaching a cap, your employer must give proper notice before implementing 'use it or lose it' directions.
Employees who work overseas for Australian companies may accrue leave under Australian law, but taxation of leave loading can become complex if you're a foreign resident for tax purposes. The ATO treats leave loading as a separate payment category on your PAYG summary.
