How annual leave is accrued and converted in Australia

Four weeks is a number of hours

The Fair Work Ombudsman’s annual leave page states the National Employment Standards entitlement: four weeks of paid annual leave per year for most full-time employees, accruing progressively. “Four weeks” only becomes a number you can take once you know how long a week is. On the NES 38-hour week it is 152 hours.

Annual hours    = ordinary weekly hours × 4
Days you can take = leave hours ÷ ordinary hours in a day

38-hour week: 152 hours a year, 7.6 hours a day, 20 days
40-hour week: 160 hours a year, 8.0 hours a day, 20 days
22.8-hour week (0.6 FTE): 91.2 hours a year, still 7.6 hours a day if you work three 7.6-hour days

That last line is the part-time trap. The day is still 7.6 hours if that is how long you work when you work. A 91.2 hour balance is 12 of your days, not 12 of a full-timer’s days spread across a roster you do not work.

Why 87.4 hours is not “about two weeks”

Loading, shutdowns and cashing out

Many awards add annual leave loading, often 17.5% of ordinary pay, when the leave is taken. Some shiftworkers are paid the penalties they would have earned instead, if that is more. None of that changes the hours. It changes the dollars on the payslip for those days.

Employers can direct leave during a shutdown, and they can manage an excessive balance, within the rules of the Fair Work Act and the applicable award. Cashing out leave is allowed only if the award or agreement says so, and usually only above a remaining balance of four weeks. The converter on this site does not decide whether a direction or a cash-out is lawful.

What the leave calculator is for

The leave calculator converts hours to days and back using the ordinary day you set. It will not value the leave in dollars, apply loading, or tell you whether the dates will be approved. For the hourly rate that turns those hours into money, use salary conversion. For how many working days a year actually contains once public holidays are removed, use workdays per year.

The mistakes the hours-to-days step is meant to catch

• Assuming every day is 8 hours on a 38-hour week.
• Treating a part-time balance as full-time days.
• Reading a mid-year balance as the annual entitlement.
• Adding 17.5% to the hours instead of to the pay.

Common questions