Leave

Information about different types of leave

Annual 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.

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:

an award, see Find My Award on the Fair Work Ombudsman website
an enterprise agreement, see Find an enterprise agreement on the Fair Work Commission website
how much annual leave you may have accrued, use the Leave Calculator on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Accumulating annual leave

You begin accumulating annual leave from your first day of employment. This includes any probation period. 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.

Taking annual leave

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.

For more information, see Directing an employee to take annual leave on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

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.

Any unused annual leave will roll over from year to year.

Leave loading

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.

For more information, see Calculating annual leave loading on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

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.

Payment of annual leave

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.

To calculate how much you are entitled to be paid, see Leave Calculator on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

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?

Cashing out annual leave

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.

For more information, see Cashing out annual leave on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Parental leave

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

Unpaid parental leave

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.

Paid parental leave

The Federal Government provides Parental Leave Pay for employees at the national minimum wage if they meet the eligibility criteria. This rate usually changes each year.

Currently, you can get Parental Leave Pay for 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. On 1 July 2025, this will increase to 120 days, or 24 weeks based on a five-day work week. You can take this:

in a single block
in multiple smaller blocks
in single days
in smaller blocks combined with smaller days.

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

If you receive Parental Leave Pay, you can share your Parental Leave Pay days with your partner. Some of your Parental Leave Pay days will be reserved for your partner. You can take up to 10 Parental Leave Pay days at the same time as your partner. On 1 July 2025, this will increase to 15 days.

For more information, see Sharing your payment on the Services Australia website.

From 1 July 2025, if you receive Parental Leave Pay you will also be entitled to be paid superannuation. For more information, see Superannuation.

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.

Sick and carer’s leave

Sick leave is any leave that you take when you can’t 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.

Sick and carer’s leave are part of the same leave entitlement, which is also known as personal leave or personal/carer’s leave.

Under the National Employment Standards (NES), all employees (except casual employees) are entitled to paid sick and carer’s leave. If you are a full-time employee, you are generally entitled to 10 days paid sick and carer’s leave for each year you work. If you work part-time, you are entitled to paid sick and 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.

You begin accumulating sick and carer’s leave from your first day of work, including any probation period.

You accrue leave 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). This includes when you are on:

paid leave, such as annual leave and sick and carer’s leave
community service leave, including jury duty
long service leave.

You don’t accumulate leave when you are on unpaid:

annual leave
sick and carer’s leave
parental leave
family and domestic violence leave.

You can take as much sick and carer’s leave as you have accumulated. There is no minimum or maximum amount. If you have any unused sick and carer’s leave at the end of each year, it carries over to the next year. You don’t lose it, if you don’t use it.

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

Notice and medical certificates

You need to let your employer know as soon as possible if you are going to take sick or carer’s leave. This can be after you the leave has started. You need to provide your employer with reasonable evidence that you aren’t fit for work if they ask for it.

Under the National Employment Standards (NES) you must provide your employer with proof of why you needed the leave, such as a:

medical certificate, or
Statutory Declaration.

If you are absent for a longer period or on particular days, such as regularly taking sick leave on a Friday, it may be reasonable for your employer to request that you provide a medical certificate for those absences.

A medical certificate does not have to state why you are sick, but it needs to state that you will be unfit for work during the period you are off work because of a personal illness or injury.

If you are going to be off work frequently or for an extended period, it may be reasonable for your employer to ask for more information about your illness.

If you don’t provide a medical certificate, you may not be entitled to be paid for the leave you took.

You should check your award, enterprise agreement or contract of employment to see when and what type of evidence you must provide your employer, if requested.

For more information, see Notice and medical certificates on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

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 sick and carer’s leave than the minimum under the NES.

For more information, see Sick and carer's leave on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Unpaid carer's leave

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 sick or carer’s leave that you could take instead.

For more information, see Unpaid carer’s leave on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Compassionate leave

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 of paid compassionate leave for each occasion that a member of their immediate family or household needs support.

You can take this leave:

in a single two-day period
on two separate days
in separate periods as agreed with your employer.

You need to notify your employer as soon as possible when you take leave. This can be after the leave has started. Your employer may request evidence about the reason for the leave.

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

You don’t accumulate this type of leave.

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.

For more information, see Compassionate and bereavement leave on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Family and domestic violence leave

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 are entitled to the full 10 days immediately as soon as you start working.

You can’t accumulate this leave from year to year. At the beginning of each year of work, your entitlement resets to 10 days.

You must be experiencing family and domestic violence to take this leave.

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.

Long service leave

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  NSW Industrial Relations website.

Portable long service leave

Employees in some industries are entitled to portable long service leave, including security, community services, building and construction, coal mining, and contract cleaning.

This means you can accumulate and keep your long service leave if you work on different projects or for more than one employer.

For more information, see Long service leave on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Taking long service leave

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.

Leaving your job

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 NSW on the NSW 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?

Community service leave

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 Payment for jury service on 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.