Guide
Annual leave calculator: how much leave you accrue
Updated
Full-time and part-time employees get four weeks of paid annual leave a year, built up weekly from ordinary hours. The arithmetic is short once you know what counts.
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How this calculator works
- Leave loading is not a universal statutory entitlement. The Fair Work Ombudsman states that annual leave loading is an additional amount paid to some employees when they take annual leave. It does not apply to all employees, and depends on what their award or enterprise agreement says (Fair Work Ombudsman: payment for annual leave).
- The Fair Work Ombudsman's library article says the annual leave loading amount and what it is calculated on varies based on the individual award or agreement. Its examples are not a full list of every way loading is calculated.
- Source: Fair Work Ombudsman library: annual leave loading in awards and agreements. That is why the percentage is a field rather than a fixed 17.5%.
- Many awards require a comparison rather than a flat payment. In the library article's Retail Award example, non-shiftworkers get the higher of two amounts. One is a 17.5% loading calculated on the employee's minimum hourly rate; the other is the weekend or shift penalty rates they normally get. The penalty field here models that comparison.
- Whether loading is calculated on an above-award rate or on the award minimum depends on the wording of the clause. The library article gives both patterns, so check yours before assuming the higher base.
- Annual leave itself is paid at the employee's current base pay rate for all hours of leave taken. That does not include overtime rates, penalties, allowances or bonuses (Fair Work Ombudsman). The loading sits on top of that base.
- Loading may not apply at all in three cases, all covered by the library article. It may be absorbed into an annualised wage arrangement permitted by the award or agreement, varied by an individual flexibility arrangement, or offset under a contractual arrangement.
- Superannuation generally applies. The ATO states that annual leave loading is included in ordinary time earnings unless it is clearly linked to lost overtime. Excluding it needs written evidence, such as the award, the agreement, or a documented policy stating the reason for the entitlement (ATO).
- Figures are gross. PAYG withholding on leave loading is a separate question and depends on how and when it is paid, so ask your payroll team rather than assuming a rate.
The entitlement
The Fair Work Ombudsman states that all employees except casual employees get paid annual leave under the National Employment Standards. It states that full-time and part-time employees get 4 weeks of annual leave, based on their ordinary hours of work.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman: annual leave, read 30 October 2026, citing Fair Work Act 2009 sections 86 and 87. Awards and registered agreements cannot offer less, but they can give more.
Leave accumulates gradually from the first day of employment, including during probation, and unused leave rolls over from year to year.
Annual leave on a 38 hour week
Four weeks of a 38 hour week is 152 hours a year. Across 52 weeks that is about 2.92 hours of leave per week worked, or 5.85 hours a fortnight. The table runs the same sum for other ordinary hours. The Fair Work Ombudsman's own example is a part-time employee on 20 hours who accumulates 80 hours a year.
| Ordinary hours a week | Leave a year | Leave per week worked | Leave per fortnight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 hours | 60 hours | 1.15 hours | 2.31 hours |
| 20 hours | 80 hours | 1.54 hours | 3.08 hours |
| 30 hours | 120 hours | 2.31 hours | 4.62 hours |
| 38 hours | 152 hours | 2.92 hours | 5.85 hours |
| 40 hours | 160 hours | 3.08 hours | 6.15 hours |
Each row is four times the weekly ordinary hours, divided by 52 for the weekly figure and by 26 for the fortnight, rounded to two decimal places.
What builds leave, and what does not
- Leave keeps building while you are on paid annual leave, paid sick and carer's leave, paid family and domestic violence leave, community service leave including jury duty, and long service leave.
- It does not build during unpaid annual leave, unpaid sick or carer's leave, or unpaid parental leave.
- Time paid by the Australian Government's Paid Parental Leave scheme while on unpaid leave from your employer does not build leave.
- A period of annual leave that has been cashed out does not build leave either.
Shiftworkers
A shiftworker can get more than four weeks a year. That applies where their award or agreement has shiftwork provisions defining them as an employee who receives the additional week under the National Employment Standards. The Fair Work Ombudsman's library article on the extra week for shiftworkers sets out who qualifies. Check the award's definition first.
The Fair Work leave calculator, and this site's
The Fair Work Ombudsman runs its own Leave Calculator at calculate.fairwork.gov.au for annual leave and sick and carer's leave balances under an award. Use it, or the table above, to find the balance in hours. Then enter that balance, as weeks, in the leave loading calculator to see what the leave is worth with loading.
Casual employees do not get paid annual leave under the National Employment Standards. Their casual loading is paid instead, and it is not the same thing as annual leave loading.