How Annual Leave Works in Australia
A clear, practical guide to understanding your annual leave entitlements as an Australian employee.
What Is Annual Leave?
Annual leave (sometimes called "holiday leave") is paid time off work that Australian employees accumulate over time. It's a legal entitlement under the National Employment Standards (NES), which form part of the Fair Work Act 2009.
Annual leave allows you to take time away from work for holidays, rest, or personal reasons while still receiving your regular pay.
How Much Annual Leave Do You Get?
Full-time employees are entitled to 4 weeks (20 days) of paid annual leave per year. Part-time employees receive a proportional amount based on their ordinary hours.
Some awards, enterprise agreements, or contracts may provide more than 4 weeks — for example, shift workers often receive 5 weeks per year. Always check your specific employment arrangement.
How Does Leave Accrue?
Annual leave accrues progressively throughout the year based on your ordinary hours of work. This means you don't have to wait until the end of the year to use your leave — it builds up with each pay cycle.
For a standard full-time employee, this works out to approximately 0.0548 days per calendar day, or roughly 1.67 days per month. Leave accrues even during periods of paid leave, but typically does not accrue during unpaid leave.
Unused annual leave carries over from year to year and does not expire. If you leave your job, any accrued but unused leave must be paid out.
Taking Annual Leave
To take annual leave, you generally need to request it from your employer in advance. Your employer can refuse a leave request only on reasonable business grounds, and they must not unreasonably refuse.
When you take annual leave, public holidays that fall within your leave period are not counted as leave days — you get those days "for free." Weekends are similarly excluded.
Plan Your Leave with Confidence
Understanding how your leave accrues and interacts with public holidays can help you plan smarter holidays. Our free Australian Annual Leave Calculator helps you model future accrual, test multiple trips, and see whether you're safe to book — all in real time.