What are leave entitlements in Australia?

Leave entitlements in Australia are the minimum paid and unpaid time-off rights guaranteed to employees under the National Employment Standards (NES), established by the Fair Work Act 2009. These entitlements apply to all national system employees regardless of any employment contract, award, or enterprise agreement — and cannot be reduced by any of those instruments.

The NES covers eight distinct types of leave: annual leave, personal/carer’s leave, compassionate leave, family and domestic violence leave, parental leave, long service leave, community service leave, and public holidays. (Fair Work Ombudsman – Leave)

What are the 8 types of leave entitlements in Australia?

1. Annual leave

Annual leave gives employees paid time off to rest and recharge. (Fair Work Ombudsman)

• How much: Full-time employees accrue 4 weeks per year. Shift workers accrue 5 weeks.
• How it accrues: Progressively throughout the year, based on ordinary hours worked.
• Part-time employees: Receive annual leave on a pro-rata basis.
• Payment: At the employee’s base pay rate for all hours of leave taken. Overtime rates, penalties, allowances, and bonuses are excluded.
• Unused leave: Accumulates indefinitely and is paid out on termination.
• Cashing out: Permitted under some awards and agreements, provided the employee retains at least 4 weeks’ balance. It is unlawful for an employer to force an employee to cash out annual leave.
• Leave loading: Many awards provide an additional 17.5% loading on annual leave pay, designed to compensate for lost overtime or penalty rates.

2. Personal/Carer’s leave (Sick leave)

Personal and carer’s leave covers absence due to personal illness or injury, or the need to care for an immediate family or household member. (Fair Work Ombudsman)

• How much: Full-time employees are entitled to 10 paid sick days per year; part-time employees receive a pro-rata entitlement.
• Accrual: Accumulates progressively and carries over year to year — it does not reset. (FWO – Fact Sheet)
• Evidence: Employers may request reasonable evidence, such as a medical certificate or statutory declaration.
• Unpaid carer’s leave: Casual employees, or employees who have exhausted their paid entitlement, are entitled to 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion.

3. Compassionate leave

Compassionate leave applies when a member of an employee’s immediate family or household dies, is stillborn, or suffers a life-threatening illness or injury. (Fair Work Ombudsman)

• How much: 2 days per occasion for permanent employees; unpaid for casual employees.
• Payment: At the employee’s base rate for ordinary hours worked. (FWO – Fact Sheet)
• Does not accumulate: Compassionate leave is not part of sick and carer’s leave entitlements and does not carry over.

4. Family and domestic violence leave

All employees — including casuals — are entitled to paid leave to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence. (Fair Work Ombudsman)

• How much: 10 days of paid leave per year.
• Availability: The full 10-day entitlement is available from the start of each 12-month period (it resets on the employee’s work anniversary and does not accumulate progressively).
• Confidentiality: Employers must not include information about this leave on an employee’s pay slip and are legally required to treat related information confidentially.

5. Parental leave

Parental leave covers the birth, adoption, or placement of a child. (Fair Work Ombudsman)

• How much: Each parent can take up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave, with the right to request a further 12 months (up to 24 months total if the employer agrees).
• Eligibility: Employees must have completed at least 12 months of continuous service with their employer (regular casuals may also qualify).
• Types: Birth-related leave, adoption-related leave, and provisions for premature birth, stillbirth, or infant death. (FWO – Fact Sheet)
• Government Paid Parental Leave: Eligible employees may access the Australian Government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme (paid at the National Minimum Wage) separately from their employer entitlement.
• Job protection: Employees have the right to return to their previous position after parental leave ends.

6. Long service leave

Long service leave rewards employees for extended tenure with a single employer. (Fair Work Ombudsman)

• How much: Most employees’ entitlements come from the long service leave laws in their state or territory — entitlements and qualifying periods vary by jurisdiction.
• Pro-rata payout on termination: Whether an employee receives pro-rata long service leave on termination depends on the laws in their state or territory.
• Portable schemes: All Australian states and territories have legislation providing employees in some industries (including building and construction, contract cleaning, and coal mining) with portable long service leave — meaning service carries across employers.

State and territory variations matter. Long service leave is primarily governed by state and territory law. Employees in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and other jurisdictions may have different accrual rates and eligibility conditions. Contact the long service leave agency in your state or territory for details. (FWO – Long Service Leave)

7. Community service leave

Community service leave is an entitlement under the NES that applies to all employees, including casuals. (Fair Work Ombudsman)

• Jury service: Full-time and part-time employees are entitled to paid leave for the duration of jury duty. Employers must pay the base pay rate for at least the first 10 days; the remainder is unpaid under the NES (though awards or agreements may provide more).
• Voluntary emergency management: Employees engaged in recognised emergency management activities (e.g., SES, volunteer firefighting) are entitled to unpaid leave, with no cap on the amount that can be taken.

8. Public holidays

• Entitlement: All eligible employees receive a paid day off on public holidays that fall on their regular workdays. (Fair Work Ombudsman)
• Working on public holidays: Employees may refuse a request to work on a public holiday on reasonable grounds.
• Public holiday during leave: If a public holiday falls during a period of paid leave (e.g., annual leave), the employee must be paid for the public holiday and it does not count against their leave balance.

Example of leave entitlements by employment type

Leave Type	Full-Time	Part-Time	Casual
Annual leave	4 weeks/year	Pro-rata	✗ (loading in lieu)
Personal/carer’s leave	10 days/year	Pro-rata	✗ (unpaid only)
Compassionate leave	2 days/occasion	2 days/occasion	Unpaid
Family & DV leave	10 days/year	10 days/year	10 days/year
Parental leave	Up to 12 months	Up to 12 months	Sometimes (regular casuals)
Long service leave	After qualifying period	After qualifying period	Varies by jurisdiction
Community service leave	Paid (jury) / Unpaid (emergency)	Same	Same

Sources: FWO – Leave; FWC – National Employment Standards

Key rules for employers and employees when managing leave

Leave applications

Employees are generally required to give reasonable notice before taking leave. The required notice period may be specified in an award, enterprise agreement, or employment contract. (FWO – Taking Annual Leave)

Leave records

Employers must maintain accurate leave records for each employee. Pay slips must display current leave accruals and balances — this is a legal requirement under the Fair Work Regulations. (Fair Work Ombudsman – Record-Keeping)

Cashing out annual leave

Cashing out is only permitted where it is allowed under a relevant award or enterprise agreement. Any cash-out arrangement must be in writing, and the employee must retain a minimum balance of 4 weeks after the cash-out. It is unlawful to force or pressure an employee into a cash-out agreement. (FWO – Annual Leave Fact Sheet)

How do employees and managers handle leave requests without the back-and-forth?

For many Australian organisations, the leave request process is one of the most quietly frustrating parts of the employee experience. An employee submits a request through one system, a manager approves it through another, and the payroll team finds out through an email — or worse, doesn’t find out until payday. The result is a cycle of follow-ups, corrections, and manual data entry that costs everyone time.

Self-service leave and rostering tools break that cycle by giving both employees and managers visibility and control from their own devices, in real time.

What can employees manage on their own?

Through a self-service platform, employees can submit leave requests, check their current balances across all leave types, flag availability, swap shifts, and receive automatic notifications when their roster changes — all without needing to contact HR or payroll directly. This kind of access is particularly valuable for shift-based workforces where availability and scheduling changes frequently and employees need up-to-date information to plan around their work commitments.

What does real-time visibility mean for managers?

On the manager side, real-time attendance tracking means leave approvals, roster gaps, and workforce costs are visible as they happen rather than surfaced after the fact. Managers can see who is available, identify coverage gaps before they become a problem, and make scheduling decisions with an accurate picture of their team’s capacity. Automated cost calculations mean roster decisions can be weighed against budget thresholds without waiting for a payroll report.

The Sydney Swans experienced this shift firsthand. Before moving to ELMO, their leave request system was creating a steady stream of queries for the payroll and finance team. After implementing ELMO’s self-service platform, employees gained the ability to manage their own requests online, 24/7 — and the finance team got back the time they had been spending fielding those requests manually.

As Leigh Taylor, Executive General Manager of Finance at the Sydney Swans put it:

“Using ELMO has taken away a lot of the inefficiencies in the past where staff would need to come up to the payroll or the finance team to help them with solutions,”

Leigh Taylor, Executive General Manager

Read The Sydney Swan’s story here

For Australian HR teams looking to reduce the administrative load of leave management while improving the experience for both employees and managers, self-service time and attendance tools represent one of the most practical steps forward. See how ELMO Rostering and Time & Attendance works.

Frequently asked questions

Do Australian leave entitlements reset each year?

Annual leave and personal/carer’s leave accrue continuously — they do not reset on a fixed date. Unused balances carry over indefinitely. Family and domestic violence leave is different: it resets on the employee’s work anniversary and the full 10 days are available immediately each year. (FWO – Annual Leave; FWO – Family and Domestic Violence Leave)

Can an employer direct employees to take annual leave?

In some circumstances, yes. Employers may direct employees to take annual leave during close-down periods, or where an employee has accumulated an excessive leave balance, provided the direction is reasonable and complies with the applicable award or agreement. (FWO – Taking Annual Leave)

Which leave entitlements apply to casual employees in Australia?

Casual employees do not accrue annual leave or personal/carer’s leave. Instead, they receive casual loading (typically 25%) in lieu of these entitlements. However, casuals are entitled to unpaid carer’s leave, unpaid compassionate leave, and the full 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. (FWO – Sick and Carer’s Leave Fact Sheet; FWO – Family and Domestic Violence Leave)

What is leave loading?

Leave loading is an additional payment (typically 17.5%) made on top of ordinary pay when employees take annual leave. It is provided under many modern awards and enterprise agreements to compensate for potential loss of overtime or shift penalty income during leave. On termination, any outstanding leave loading must also be paid out. (FWO – Annual Leave Loading)

Can an employer deny parental leave?

No. Parental leave is a legal entitlement under the NES and cannot be refused for eligible employees, though the timing may be negotiated in certain circumstances. (FWO – Parental Leave Fact Sheet)