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Leave

Information about different types of leave

This section includes information about annual leave and leave loading, carers leave, community service leave, compassionate leave, family and domestic violence leave, long service leave, parental leave and personal leave. 

All employees, except casual employees, are entitled to a minimum of four weeks annual leave, or holidays, for each year they work. Shift workers may be entitled to a minimum of five weeks annual leave if they meet certain requirements.

You don't have to work a full year before you are entitled to annual leave. Annual leave is accrued on a pro-rata basis. This means that if you work half a year, you will be entitled to half your annual leave.

Some awards, enterprise agreements or contracts of employment provide for more than four weeks annual leave. You should contact the Fair Work Ombudsman or get legal advice to find out how much annual leave you are entitled to.

To find:

If you are an employee who is entitled to annual leave, you can take any, or part of any, annual leave owing, with your employer's permission. Your employer cannot refuse permission unreasonably. This means they will need to have a good reason to refuse permission. Reasons could include:

  • other staff are on leave at the same time
  • you are asking for leave during a busy time
  • you haven't provided sufficient notice.

Your employer can also ask you to take annual leave if you have too much owing to you, or if their business needs to be closed over a certain period. Any request that you to take annual leave should be reasonable and you should be given reasonable notice.

If your employer is not letting you take annual leave, or is forcing you to take leave, and you think it is unreasonable, you should get legal advice.

Leave loading is an extra payment on top of your annual leave pay. It is usually 17.5% of your normal pay.  Your award, enterprise agreement or contract will state if you are entitled to leave loading.

Not all employees are entitled to leave loading. If you are not sure whether you are entitled to leave loading, or how much, you should get legal advice.

Your wages for the period you are on leave can be paid before you go on leave, or while you are on leave. If you are paid while you are on leave, you should be paid at least monthly.

You are entitled to be paid your ordinary rate of pay when you take annual leave. This does not include any overtime, penalty rates, allowances or bonuses.

If you are dismissed (sacked) or resign from your job, you should be paid any annual leave that you haven't taken. Usually, you will be paid before your last day or on the next scheduled payday.

If you are entitled to leave loading, you may receive the extra payment at the same time you receive your annual leave pay. In some cases the payment of leave loading may be postponed unless a certain number of days leave are taken together. 

If you are dismissed (sacked) or resign from your job and you have annual leave that you haven't taken, then any leave loading that you are entitled to should be paid to you in addition to your annual leave pay. This may not be the case if you have worked for less than 12 months.

If you are not paid or you haven't been paid the right amount, there are steps you can take to try and recover the money that you are entitled to. For more information, see What if my entitlements are not paid?

Sometimes you might want to be paid out your leave instead of taking time off. This is called cashing out leave. You can cash out annual leave if you and your employer agree and the following conditions are met: 

  • your award or enterprise agreement allows you to cash out leave
  • you have a balance of at least four weeks annual leave
  • you are paid at least the same amount you would have been paid if you had actually taken the leave
  • there is a written agreement between you and your employer every time you cash out leave.

Your employer cannot force you or pressure you to cash out your leave.

If you are not covered by an award or enterprise agreement, you can cash out leave if all the other conditions are met.

All employees are entitled to be absent from work to undertake voluntary community emergency activities or jury service. This is called community service leave. There is no set limit on how much leave you can take, but you may have to supply your employer with:

  • notice, as soon as it is practical for you to do so
  • information about how long you expect to be on leave
  • evidence of the community service you are involved in.

Community service leave is generally unpaid. However, if the leave is for jury duty, then you are entitled to ‘make up pay’ for up to the first 10 days that you miss work because of jury service. Make up pay is the difference between your ordinary pay and what you are paid for jury service. 

For information about the amount payable for jury service in NSW, see the ‘Payment for jury service’ page of the Courts and Tribunal Services website. 

State or Territory laws may provide for better entitlements than the National Employment Standards in relation to community service leave. You should contact the Fair Work Ombudsman or get legal advice to find out what you are entitled to.

You should check your award, enterprise agreement or contract of employment to see if you are entitled to any extra leave.

If your employer refuses to pay you for leave that you are entitled to, there are steps you can take to try and recover the money that you are owed. For more information, see What if my entitlements are not paid?

Compassionate leave is any time off work to spend time with an immediate family member or member of your household who has a life threatening illness or injury. It also includes any time off work because an immediate family member or member of your household dies.

Under the National Employment Standards (NES), all employees (except casual employees) are entitled to take up to two days paid compassionate leave for each occasion that a member of their immediate family or household needs support.

If you take compassionate leave you should be paid for your ordinary hours of work at your base rate of pay.

Casual employees are entitled to two days unpaid compassionate leave. 

You should check your award, enterprise ​agreement or contract of employment to see if you are entitled to more compassionate leave than the minimum available under the NES.

Family and domestic violence leave is any time off work because you need to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence.

For example, this can include:

  • arranging for your safety or the safety of a close relative (including relocating)
  • attending court hearings 
  • accessing police services.

Family and domestic violence includes violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by a close relative or a member of your household.

A close relative can include:

  • your current or former spouse, de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling
  • your current or former spouse or de facto partner's child, parent grandparent, grandchild or sibling. 

Under the National Employment Standards (NES), all employees including casuals are entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave, even if your award or contract provides less. This entitlement also applies to employees of small businesses.

You can take this leave as one block of 10 days, separate days or any separate period less than a day. Paid family and domestic violence leave must be recorded on a pay slip as normal pay for ordinary hours of work, or any other kind of payment for performing work, such as an allowance, bonus or overtime. You can also request that the leave is recorded as another type of leave.  The 10 day paid leave entitlement resets each year on your work anniversary and doesn't rollover. 

You should check your award, enterprise agreement or contract of employment to see if you are entitled to more family and domestic violence leave than the minimum available under the NES.

Your employer can ask you to provide evidence. This can be a statutory declaration, a document issued by the police or the Court.

For more information, see Family and domestic violence leave on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Employees who work for one employer for a particular length of time may be entitled to extra leave. This is called long service leave, or extended leave.

In New South Wales, you are generally entitled to two months long service leave after working for the same employer for 10 years. You are entitled to an extra month of leave for every five years after that. This may be different if you are in another state or territory. If you work part time, you are still entitled to long service leave.

If you are a casual employee, you may still be entitled to long service leave. You should get legal advice.

Some industries, for example the building and construction industry and the contract cleaning industry, have different conditions that apply to long service leave. You should get legal advice if you are not sure about your long service leave entitlements. 

You should check your award, enterprise agreement or employment contract to see what your long service leave entitlements are.

To find out how much long service leave you might be entitled to, you can use the 'Long Service Leave Calculator' on the Industrial Relations website.

You can take your long service leave as soon as you are entitled to it unless the needs of the business require you to postpone it. Your employer must give you a month's notice of the commencement date of your long service leave. 

Long service leave is usually taken as one continuous period. However, if you and your employer agree, you can take it in two or more periods depending on how much long service leave you have.

If you take long service leave, you should be paid:

  • your ordinary weekly pay as at the time just before you took long service leave, or
  • an average of your ordinary weekly pay over the previous five years,

whichever is more. This will not include any overtime, penalty rates, allowances, bonuses or commissions.

You should receive payment either when you start your leave or at the same time you would have received your normal pay if you had not taken the leave.

If you have worked for your employer for 10 years or more and you are dismissed (sacked), resign, or are made redundant, you should be paid any long service leave that you haven't taken.

If you have worked for your employer for more than five years but less than 10, you may be entitled to a long service pro-rata payment if you resign as a result of:

  • illness
  • incapacity
  • domestic or other pressing necessity.

If you resign for one of the above reasons you need to advise the employer in writing at the time of giving notice.

You may also be entitled to a pro-rata entitlement after five years, if you are dismissed by the employer for any reason other than serious and wilful misconduct, or if you die.

For more information, see Long Service Leave Entitlement NSW on the Industrial Relations website.

If you have left your job and you are not sure if you should be paid for unused long service leave, you should get legal advice.

If you haven't been paid or you haven't been paid the right amount, there are steps you can take to try and recover the money that you are entitled to. For more information, see What if my entitlements are not paid?

Parental leave is time off work for the birth or adoption of a child.

If you have worked for at least 12 months, you can take unpaid parental leave if you or your partner gives birth or adopts a child. This includes casual employees who have been employed on a regular basis for at least 12 months. Parental leave also applies to same sex de facto relationships and single parents.

Unpaid parental leave can be taken as a single continuous period, flexibly or a combination of both. 

After 12 months of unpaid parental leave, you can request to extend your leave for an additional 12 months. The request must be made in writing and given at least four weeks before the end of your first leave period. 

The Federal Government provides Parental Leave Pay for employees at the national minimum wage if they meet the eligibility criteria.

From 1 July 2024, Parental Leave Pay can be taken up to 22 weeks, or 110 days based on a five day work week, to share by a couple or in full by a single parent.

To check your eligibility and the current rates of pay, see Parental Leave Pay on the Services Australia website. 

Some employees may be entitled to extra paid or unpaid parental leave. You should check your award, enterprise agreement or contract of employment to see what you are entitled to.

There are other parental leave entitlements, including consultation requirements and a return to work guarantee. For more information, see Parental leave on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Personal/carer’s leave is any time off work because you are sick or you need to care for an immediate family member. It includes both sick leave and carer’s leave.

Sick leave is any leave that you take when you cannot go to work because you are sick or injured.

Carer’s leave is any time off work to look after a member of your immediate family or household who is unwell or if there is an emergency.

Under the National Employment Standards (NES), all employees (except casual employees) are entitled to paid personal/carer’s leave. If you are a full time employee you are generally entitled to 10 days paid personal/carer’s leave for each year you work. If you work part time, you are entitled to paid personal/carer’s leave on a pro rata basis. This means your leave entitlement will be a percentage of what a full-time employee would get, based on the number of hours you work. 

Personal/carer’s leave accrues on a pro rata basis. For example, if you work for six months, you will be entitled to at least five days paid personal/carer’s leave (full time employee). Any personal/carer’s leave that an employee does not take for each year they work can be added (accrue) to the next year.

If you take personal/carer’s leave you should be paid for your ordinary hours of work at your base rate of pay.

Under the NES, casual employees are only entitled to unpaid carer’s leave or unpaid compassionate leave.

You should check your award, enterprise agreement or contract of employment to see if you are entitled to more personal/ carer’s leave than the minimum under the NES. 

Employees (including casual employees) are entitled to two days of unpaid carer’s leave when a member of the employee’s immediate family or someone who lives with them, needs care or support because:

  • they are sick or injured,
  • there is an unexpected emergency. 

Generally you can’t take unpaid carer’s leave if you have paid personal/carer’s leave that you could take instead.

Some employees may be entitled to other types of leave, depending on their award, enterprise agreement or contract of employment, or because legislation allows it. Some examples of other ty​pes of leave that may be available include:

  • leave for victims of domestic violence
  • study leave
  • leave to attend court (other than for jury service)
  • Defence Forces leave.

If you are not sure what leave you are entitled to you should contact the Fair Work Ombudsman or get legal advice.