Annual Leave Calculator

How annual leave accrues

Under the National Employment Standards, a full-time employee accrues four weeks of paid annual leave for each year of continuous service. For a 38-hour week that is 152 hours a year. The entitlement builds up progressively during the year rather than arriving in one block, which is why a balance can be fractional.

Leave hours = balance in weeks × ordinary hours per week. Payout = leave hours × base hourly rate (+ loading if it applies).

Part-time employees accrue the same four weeks but on their ordinary hours. Someone working 19 hours a week accrues 76 hours a year, not 152. Casual employees are paid a casual loading instead of paid leave, so they do not build up an annual leave balance in the same way.

A balance in weeks is the easiest unit to work with because it does not change when your ordinary hours change. Converting it to hours is useful for payroll and for checking a payslip. The calculator uses ordinary hours per week divided by five for a day, so a 38-hour week gives 7.6 hours a day.

Leave continues to accrue while you are on paid leave. A common source of confusion is a payslip showing a balance that goes up while you are on holiday: that is the normal accrual continuing, offset by the leave you are taking.

Calculating the payout

Annual leave is paid at the employee’s base rate of pay for their ordinary hours. Overtime, penalty rates, shift loadings, allowances and bonuses are generally excluded. If you are paid an annual salary, divide it by 52 to get the weekly rate, then divide by ordinary weekly hours to get the hourly rate.

The same base rate usually applies when unused leave is paid out at the end of employment. The payout is gross income and is taxed in the year it is paid, which can push part of it into a higher marginal bracket. A large payout near the end of the financial year may be worth timing with your tax agent.

The calculator shows the gross value. To estimate what you would actually receive, subtract income tax at your marginal rate and the Medicare levy. Thebonus tax calculator uses a similar approach for one-off payments, and thesalary calculator shows how a payout fits into your yearly take-home pay.

Leave loading

Leave loading is an extra payment on top of base pay, commonly 17.5%, intended to compensate for the loss of penalty rates or shift loadings while on leave. It comes from an award, enterprise agreement or contract, not from the National Employment Standards. Many award-free employees do not receive it.

When loading applies, it is usually paid when leave is taken. It is not normally paid on unused leave at termination unless the applicable instrument says so. That distinction matters for a payout estimate: switching the toggle on assumes you are entitled to loading on the whole balance.

If your award provides loading, check whether it is capped. Some awards limit the loading to a set amount per year or exclude it for employees on higher salaries. The calculator applies 17.5% to the full balance, so reduce the balance or the toggle if only part qualifies.

Part-time, shift work and changing hours

A part-time employee’s leave balance is still expressed in weeks, but each week is worth fewer hours. If your ordinary hours change, the weeks stay the same while the hours and dollar value change. That is why it is safer to track leave in weeks and convert at the current ordinary hours rate.

Shift workers may have additional leave under an award, and some agreements provide five weeks of annual leave for regular shift work. If that applies, change the accrual rate from 4 to 5 weeks. The calculator does not apply award-specific penalty rates to the payout, because leave is generally paid at base rate.

For long service leave and redundancy entitlements, use the dedicated long service leave calculator andredundancy payout calculator.