Frequently asked questions.

FT employees accrue 4 weeks (152 hours) per year, about 2.923 hrs/week. PT employees accrue pro-rata. Casuals don't accrue paid annual leave; they receive 25% loading instead.

12.5 days based on an 8-hour workday. If your standard day is 7.6 hours (38-hr week ÷ 5 days), 100 hours equals 13.16 days.

17.5% on top of base pay when annual leave is taken. Compensates for the loss of overtime and penalty rates while on leave. Eligibility depends on your modern award.

In limited cases, yes. If your balance is "excessive" (typically 8+ weeks accrued), or during a planned shutdown, employers can direct you to take leave with reasonable written notice.

Sometimes. Most awards allow cash-out by written agreement, but you must keep at least 4 weeks of accrued leave on hand at all times.

Yes, paid annual leave, paid personal/carer's leave and paid public holidays all count toward continuous service for accrual purposes. Unpaid leave generally doesn't.

If a public holiday falls during your annual leave, that day is paid as a public holiday, not deducted from your annual leave balance.

Almost every Australian employee with sufficient continuous service. Rules vary by state, typically 10 years for full entitlement, with pro-rata available earlier on termination.

Yes. Casual employees can get long service leave in every Australian state and territory, because each has its own long service leave law and all eight cover casual work. What differs is the test for whether casual service counts as continuous. "Regular and systematic" is not a national test: it defines a casual only in the ACT, is one of several routes to continuity in Victoria and WA, and does not appear in the long service leave rules of NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania or the NT. Once casual service is continuous, the qualifying period is the same as for a permanent employee. Do casuals get long service leave? Rules by state →

It depends entirely on your state, and this is one of the widest splits in Australian leave law. Victoria is the strict end: cashing out long service leave while still employed is an offence under the Long Service Leave Act 2018 (Vic), and both the employer and the employee can be liable. Tasmania expressly allows it by agreement, Queensland allows it where an award or agreement permits or by order of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission on compassionate or financial hardship grounds, South Australia allows it by mutual agreement, and Western Australia publishes its own cashing-out guidance. Check your own state before assuming either answer.

8.6667 weeks in most of the country, and 13 weeks in South Australia and the Northern Territory. NSW expresses it as 2 months and defines a month as 4 and one-third weeks, which is the same 8.6667 weeks. Queensland, WA and Tasmania state 8.6667 weeks directly. Victoria arrives there by accruing one week for every 60 weeks of service. SA and NT accrue 1.3 weeks per completed year, so roughly 50% more leave for the same decade of work. NSW, Queensland, WA and Tasmania then add 4.3333 weeks for each further 5 years.

6.0667 weeks in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, Tasmania and the ACT, and 9.1 weeks in South Australia and the Northern Territory. The first figure is seven tenths of 8.6667 weeks, which is also what Victoria's 1/60th formula produces from 364 weeks of service. Calculating it and being paid it are different questions: in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, the NT and the ACT a plain resignation at 7 years pays nothing unless a qualifying reason applies.

The full entitlement yes, once you reach your state's trigger. Pro rata before that depends on where you work and why you left. Victoria pays pro rata on resignation from 7 years with no reason test at all, and WA and SA do the same except where the employee was dismissed for serious misconduct or, in SA, resigned without giving required notice. NSW, Queensland, Tasmania, the NT and the ACT all require a qualifying reason: illness, incapacity, a domestic or other pressing necessity, reaching retirement age, death, or termination by the employer for something other than serious misconduct. A plain resignation at 8 years in Queensland pays nothing. Pro-rata rules by state →

Only when it is paid out on termination, and then the rate depends on when the leave was earned. Leave taken as leave while you are still employed is taxed as normal earnings through your usual pay cycle. On termination the ATO splits the payment by accrual date: service before 16 August 1978 has only 5% of that portion taxed at marginal rates, service from 16 August 1978 to 17 August 1993 has 32% withheld, and service from 18 August 1993 is taxed at marginal rates on an ordinary resignation or has 32% withheld where the payment follows a genuine redundancy, invalidity or an early retirement scheme. Unused long service leave is not an employment termination payment, and the amount withheld is not your final tax. Work out the tax withheld →

Generally no, though it usually does not break your continuous service either, so your anniversary date simply moves back. Queensland says unpaid leave does not count as service but does not break continuity, and does not accumulate during unpaid parental leave. NSW works the same way. Victoria is the outlier, counting unpaid leave towards the period of employment up to 52 weeks, and beyond that only where a contract or fair work instrument provides for it. In the Northern Territory unpaid leave does not accumulate long service leave at all.

In some jurisdictions, and almost always only with your employer's agreement. Victoria expressly allows it: an employer may agree to double the period at half pay, and must grant the request unless there are reasonable business grounds to refuse, though taking half the leave at double pay is not permitted. In WA you can request either half pay or double pay and the employer is under no obligation to agree. NSW Industrial Relations states that the Long Service Leave Act 1955 is silent on half pay. Get any arrangement in writing, because it changes both your remaining balance and your rate of pay.

Yes in every state and territory once you have enough service to qualify, because employer-initiated termination is the one route that qualifies everywhere. NSW and the ACT pay pro rata from 5 years where the employer terminates for a reason other than serious and wilful misconduct. Queensland pays from 7 years where the dismissal is for a reason other than the employee's conduct, capacity or performance. WA, SA and the NT name redundancy directly from 7 years, Tasmania covers employer termination other than for serious and wilful misconduct, and Victoria pays from 7 years however the employment ends. The tax treatment shifts too: on a genuine redundancy the post-1993 portion has 32% withheld rather than being taxed at marginal rates. Total up your final pay →

Multiply your completed continuous service by your state's weekly rate, then subtract any long service leave already taken. Victoria divides total weeks of service by 60, so 7 years and 6 months is 390 weeks over 60, or 6.5 weeks. Tasmania multiplies years, including part years, by 0.8667. WA takes the same proportion of 8.667 weeks and counts completed years, months, weeks and days to the last day worked. SA and the NT pay 1.3 weeks per completed year and ignore the part year, so 8.5 years in the NT pays for 8. Queensland converts hours for casual and regular part-time employees: total ordinary hours divided by 52, times 8.6667, divided by 10.

Under the NES (Fair Work Act s.119), redundancy pay scales by years of continuous service: 4 weeks at 1 year, 6 at 2 years, 7 at 3, 8 at 4, 10 at 5, 11 at 6, 13 at 7, 14 at 8, 16 at 9, then drops back to 12 weeks at 10+ years. Paid at base rate, not gross. Run your figures in the redundancy calculator →

It's a historical quirk: the NES schedule was designed when long service leave kicked in at 10 years, so the redundancy bracket steps down to avoid double-counting. Your award or enterprise agreement may pay more.

No. Employers with fewer than 15 employees are exempt from NES redundancy under section 121 of the Fair Work Act. They still owe notice and unused leave payouts.

Generally no. Casuals are excluded from NES redundancy because their 25% loading is paid in lieu of leave and notice entitlements. A regular casual employed for 12+ months may have other rights though.

Genuine redundancy gets a tax-free cap: $13,598 + $6,801 per completed year of service for FY2026-27, up from $13,100 + $6,552 in FY2025-26 (the ATO indexes it annually). Anything above that is taxed at the employment termination payment (ETP) rate, which is concessional below the ETP cap ($270,000 for FY2026-27).

Unbroken employment with the same employer. Paid leave (annual, personal, public holidays) counts. Unpaid leave doesn't add to service but doesn't break it. Casual to permanent conversions usually count from the conversion date.

Final pay covers: any notice owed (or PILON), unused annual leave at base + loading, unused LSL where applicable, plus redundancy pay if your role was made redundant. It must be paid within 7 days of termination under most awards. Redundancy calculator (separate) →

Under s.117 of the Fair Work Act: 1 week (under 1 year), 2 weeks (1-3 yrs), 3 weeks (3-5 yrs), 4 weeks (5+ yrs). Add 1 week if you're over 45 with 2+ years service. Awards or contracts may require more.

Base rate is the legal minimum (s.90). Most awards require loading too (17.5%) when the loading would have applied to the leave if taken. Check your award or contract.

Most modern awards require final pay within 7 days of termination. The Fair Work Act doesn't set a federal deadline, but unreasonable delay can trigger underpayment claims.

Notice and leave payouts are taxed as ordinary employment income. Redundancy pay above the genuine redundancy tax-free cap ($13,598 + $6,801 per completed year for FY2026-27) is taxed as an ETP at concessional rates below the ETP cap of $270,000.

Full-time employees accrue 4 weeks (152 hours) per year of service under the NES, that's about 2.923 hours per week worked. Part-time employees accrue pro-rata based on their hours. Run the numbers in our annual leave calculator →

Based on a standard 8-hour workday, 100 hours equals 12.5 working days. If your standard day is 7.6 hours (a 38-hour week over 5 days), 100 hours equals roughly 13.16 days.

No, casuals don't accrue paid annual leave. Instead they receive a 25% casual loading on their base hourly rate to compensate. They do, however, get unpaid carer's leave, and they can get long service leave in every state and territory. See the casual vs permanent guide →

Leave loading is an extra 17.5% on top of base pay when annual leave is taken. It compensates for the loss of overtime and penalty rates while on leave. Eligibility depends on your modern award or enterprise agreement.

Most states require 7, 10 years of continuous service for full LSL. Pro-rata payouts are available earlier (e.g., after 5 years in NSW on termination). Rules vary significantly by state. Check your state's LSL rules →

Yes. Unused annual leave must be paid out on termination at your final base rate, plus loading where applicable. LSL payout depends on your state and reason for leaving.

The Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme provides 130 days (26 weeks) at the National Minimum Wage, $200.94 a day or $1,004.70 a week, for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2026. A child born between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026 attracts 120 days. The increase was the final step legislated by the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (More Support for Working Families) Act 2024. This is in addition to any employer top-up and the 12 months of unpaid parental leave under the NES.

In limited circumstances, yes. An employer can direct you to take leave if your balance is "excessive" (typically 8+ weeks accrued) or during a planned shutdown, subject to reasonable notice and award terms.

Yes. The NES applies from day one of employment. Probation has no effect on leave accrual, the only thing it changes is the simpler dismissal process.