What is paid leave?

Paid leave in Australia is the time off work that employees are entitled to receive while continuing to be paid. The main forms of paid leave are set by the National Employment Standards in the Fair Work Act 2009, with additional or higher entitlements often provided by modern awards, enterprise agreements, or individual contracts.

All full-time and part-time employees are entitled to four weeks (152 hours for a full-time employee) of paid annual leave each year, accrued progressively throughout the year of service. Shift workers are entitled to five weeks of annual leave. Annual leave is paid at the employee's base rate of pay and accumulates from year to year if not taken. Casual employees do not accrue annual leave but are usually paid a 25 per cent casual loading instead.

Personal/carer's leave provides ten days of paid leave each year for use when an employee is unfit for work because of illness or injury, or to care for a member of their immediate family or household who is ill, injured, or affected by an unexpected emergency. Compassionate leave gives employees two days of paid leave on each occasion when a member of their immediate family or household dies or is suffering a life-threatening illness or injury. Family and domestic violence leave provides ten days of paid leave each year, increased from five days unpaid in February 2023.

Other forms of paid leave include public holidays (about ten to thirteen each year depending on the state), long service leave (set by state legislation, typically two months after ten years of continuous service), and government-funded paid parental leave (currently 22 weeks at the National Minimum Wage as of July 2024, rising to 26 weeks by July 2026). Employers may also offer additional paid leave such as study leave, jury duty top-up, or volunteer leave as part of their workplace conditions.