Australian employees get 8 kinds of leave under the National Employment Standards (annual, sick and carer's, unpaid carer's, compassionate, family and domestic violence, community service, parental and public holidays), plus long service leave, mostly under state law, and extra types from awards or agreements.
This page is a directory. It lists every leave type in one table with where the right comes from, how much you get, whether it is paid and what casuals get, then sends you to the page that explains the rules. The definitions here are kept short on purpose: the detail lives on the linked pages.
Key takeaways
- Leave comes from three layers: the NES in the Fair Work Act, state and territory law (mainly long service leave), and your award, agreement, contract or policy.
- Casuals get no paid annual or sick leave, but their family and domestic violence leave is paid, and they can take carer's and compassionate leave without pay.
- Several common names are not leave types in law: stress leave is sick leave, bereavement leave is compassionate leave, and emergency leave depends on the emergency.
- TOIL, RDOs, purchased leave, ceremonial leave and study leave exist only where an award, agreement, contract or policy creates them.
Every type of leave at a glance
| Leave | Where it comes from | How much | Paid? | Casuals | Our page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual leave | NES, Division 6 | 4 weeks a year; 5 for shiftworkers as their award or agreement defines them | Yes | No | Annual leave calculator; Does annual leave roll over? |
| Personal/carer's leave (sick and carer's) | NES, Division 7 | 10 days a year full-time; 1/26 of ordinary hours, so pro rata for part-time | Yes | No paid leave | Sick leave calculator; Carer's leave |
| Unpaid carer's leave | NES, Division 7 | 2 days per occasion | No | Yes | Carer's leave |
| Compassionate (bereavement) leave | NES, Division 7 | 2 days per occasion | Yes, base rate | Yes, unpaid | Compassionate and bereavement leave |
| Family and domestic violence leave | NES, Division 7 | 10 days a year, all available from the first day of work | Yes, full pay rate | Yes, paid for rostered hours | Paid family and domestic violence leave |
| Community service leave (jury duty, emergency volunteering) | NES, Division 8 | No cap; a reasonable absence | No, except jury make-up pay for the first 10 days (full-time and part-time only) | Yes, unpaid | Community service and jury duty leave |
| Unpaid parental leave | NES, Division 5 | 12 months, plus the right to request 12 more | No; Parental Leave Pay is a separate government payment | Only after at least 12 months of regular and systematic work, with a reasonable expectation it will continue | Maternity leave; Paternity leave; Parental Leave Pay calculator |
| Public holidays | NES, Division 10 | The right to be away on each public holiday | Yes, base rate, if it falls on a day you normally work | Unpaid | Australian public holidays 2026: dates by state |
| Long service leave | State and territory Acts (NES Division 9 only for pre-2010 award-derived terms) | 6.0667 weeks after 7 years (VIC, ACT); 8.6667 weeks after 10 years (NSW, QLD, WA, TAS); 13 weeks after 10 years (SA, NT) | Yes | Yes, under rules that differ by state | Long service leave calculator; Do casuals get long service leave? |
| Time off in lieu (TOIL) | Award, agreement or a written agreement under one | Set by the award: hour for hour (Clerks Award) or at the overtime rate (Nurses Award) | Yes | Depends on the award | Time off in lieu, RDOs and banked hours |
| Rostered days off (RDOs) | Award or agreement | Set by the roster cycle | Paid or unpaid, depending on the award or agreement | Depends on the award | Time off in lieu, RDOs and banked hours; 9 day fortnight calculator |
| Purchased leave | Contract, agreement or employer policy | Set by the scheme | Funded by you through lower pay | Depends on the scheme | Purchased leave calculator |
| Leave without pay | Agreement with your employer | As agreed | No | Yes, by agreement | Leave without pay |
| Cultural and ceremonial leave | Some awards and public sector agreements; not in the NES | Up to 10 unpaid working days a year (Nurses Award); up to 10 days in any 2 years (APS award) | Unpaid in both awards | Depends on the instrument | No dedicated page |
| Defence reserve leave | Defence Reserve Service (Protection) Act 2001 | No set cap: your employer must release you for Defence service, including training | No legal obligation to pay | Not stated by the FWO | No dedicated page |
| Study leave | Awards, agreements or policies only; not an NES matter | Set by the instrument | Set by the instrument | Set by the instrument | No dedicated page |
Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s 61(2), s 67(2), s 111 and s 113 (AustLII, retrieved 7 October 2026); ss 22(2) and 104 to 106 (Compilation No. 73, 7 July 2026).
Fair Work Ombudsman: Annual leave (updated 25 September 2026); Paid sick and carer's leave (10 August 2026); Unpaid carer's leave (23 October 2025); Compassionate and bereavement leave (7 August 2026); Family and domestic violence leave and Taking family and domestic violence leave (10 August 2026); Community service leave (7 August 2026); Types of parental leave (2 September 2026); Not working on public holidays (10 August 2026); Rostered days off (10 August 2026); Overtime pay (10 August 2026); Defence reservists (16 January 2026).
Awards: Clerks Award cl 23.4 (to 1 July 2026); Nurses Award cl 19.3 and cl 23 (to 1 August 2026); APS Enterprise Award cl 20 (to 1 July 2026). Long service leave figures from each state and territory Act, checked 30 September 2026.
Leave under the National Employment Standards
The NES is made up of 12 matters, listed in s 61(2) of the Fair Work Act. Six of them deal with leave and time off: parental leave (Division 5), annual leave (Division 6), personal/carer's, compassionate and family and domestic violence leave (Division 7), community service leave (Division 8), long service leave (Division 9) and public holidays (Division 10). The other six, such as maximum weekly hours, casual employment, superannuation contributions and notice and redundancy pay, are covered in the National Employment Standards, explained. What each leave is for:
- Annual leave: paid time away from work for rest or holidays, which is why people call it holiday pay.
- Personal/carer's leave: for when you are unfit for work through illness or injury, or need to care for or support an immediate family or household member.
- Unpaid carer's leave: the same caring reasons, for casuals and for anyone whose paid balance has run out.
- Compassionate leave: a death in your immediate family or household, or a member of it facing a life-threatening illness or injury, a stillbirth, or a miscarriage.
- Family and domestic violence leave: dealing with the impact of family and domestic violence when that cannot practically be done outside work hours.
- Community service leave: jury service and voluntary emergency management, such as SES or fire service callouts.
- Unpaid parental leave: time off to care for a new child.
- Public holidays: a right to be absent on the day, not a balance you build up.
Long service leave and other state law
Long service leave is on the s 61(2) list, but s 113 only gives NES long service leave to employees with applicable award-derived terms: terms of an award that would have applied to them immediately before the NES Part began, so pre-2010 terms. Everyone else gets long service leave under their state or territory Act, and the Fair Work Act does not exclude those laws except for employees entitled under the NES division. Victoria and the ACT give 6.0667 weeks after 7 years; NSW, Queensland, WA and Tasmania give 8.6667 weeks after 10 years; South Australia and the Northern Territory give 13 weeks after 10 years. Work out your figure with the long service leave calculator.
State law adds one more leave type in Western Australia. Employees in the WA state industrial relations system have bereavement leave under the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993 (WA): up to 2 days paid on the death of a family or household member, for full-time, part-time and casual employees alike.
Leave from awards, agreements and contracts
These types have no NES entitlement behind them. Whether you get them, and how much, depends on the instrument that covers you.
- Time off in lieu (TOIL): paid time off instead of overtime pay, where an award or agreement allows it. The Clerks Award gives hour for hour (2 overtime hours earn 2 hours off), while the Nurses Award gives time at the overtime rate (2 hours at 150% earn 3 hours off). See time off in lieu, RDOs and banked hours.
- Rostered days off: a day in a roster cycle you do not have to work, paid or unpaid depending on the award or agreement. The 9 day fortnight calculator shows the daily hours behind one.
- Purchased leave: extra leave bought by giving up an equal amount of pay. Award and agreement-free employees can agree to it with their employer; others need a scheme in their agreement or employer policy. Model the pay cut with the purchased leave calculator.
- Extra compassionate days: some awards add to the NES. The Higher Education Industry-Academic Staff-Award 2020 gives 3 days per permissible occasion instead of 2.
- Cultural and ceremonial leave: leave for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ceremonial obligations. The NES has none; the Nurses Award gives up to 10 unpaid working days a year with employer approval, and the APS award up to 10 days in any 2 years, which does not count as service.
- Defence reserve leave: employers must release Reservists for all types of Defence service, including training, and keep employing them afterwards. There is no legal obligation to pay, you cannot be made to use annual or long service leave for it, and it sits apart from community service leave.
- Study leave: not an NES matter. It exists only where your award, agreement or employer policy provides it.
What casuals get
Casuals get no paid annual leave or paid sick leave, and are not paid for a public holiday they do not work. They still have these rights:
- 2 days of unpaid carer's leave per occasion;
- the same 2 days of compassionate leave per occasion as everyone else, without pay;
- the full yearly family and domestic violence entitlement, paid for rostered shifts;
- unpaid community service leave (jury make-up pay under s 111 applies only to employees who are not casual);
- unpaid parental leave once they have worked regularly and systematically for at least 12 months and expect that to continue; and
- long service leave under their state or territory Act.
For the sick leave side in detail, see do casuals get sick leave?; for long service, do casuals get long service leave?
Names that are not separate leave types
Many searches use everyday names. This is what each one is in law.
| What people call it | What it is in law | Our page |
|---|---|---|
| Holiday pay | Annual leave | Annual leave calculator |
| Sick leave, carer's leave | One personal/carer's leave balance used for both | Personal leave vs sick leave |
| Stress leave | Paid sick leave, which the FWO says "can include stress" | Stress leave in NSW; Stress leave in Victoria; Stress leave in QLD |
| Bereavement leave, funeral leave | Compassionate leave; the NES has no separate funeral leave | Compassionate and bereavement leave |
| Miscarriage leave | Compassionate leave, 2 days per miscarriage | Miscarriage leave in Australia |
| Emergency leave, family emergency leave | Carer's, compassionate, family and domestic violence or community service leave, depending on the emergency | Emergency leave in Australia |
| Maternity leave, paternity leave | Unpaid parental leave, plus the government's Parental Leave Pay | Maternity leave; Paternity leave |
| Jury duty leave | Community service leave | Community service and jury duty leave |
| Christmas shutdown | Directed annual leave, if your award or agreement allows it | Christmas shutdown and directed leave |
| Stand down | Not leave: unpaid time off when you cannot usefully be employed, which still counts as service | Emergency leave in Australia |
Your yearly leave by hours
Paid personal/carer's leave is weekly hours × 52 ÷ 26, and annual leave is weekly hours × 4 (or × 5 for a shiftworker). The FWO's own examples check out: 38 hours a week gives 76 hours of personal/carer's leave, and 20 hours a week gives 80 hours of annual leave.
| Ordinary hours a week | Personal/carer's leave a year | Annual leave a year | Annual leave, shiftworker |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | 76 h | 152 h | 190 h |
| 30.4 | 60.8 h | 121.6 h | 152 h |
| 22.8 | 45.6 h | 91.2 h | 114 h |
| 15.2 | 30.4 h | 60.8 h | 76 h |
| 7.6 | 15.2 h | 30.4 h | 38 h |
A casual on any of these hours has 0 hours of paid annual and personal/carer's leave, but keeps the per-occasion and family and domestic violence rights listed above.
Types of leave: questions
What are the types of leave in Australia?
Under the NES: annual, personal/carer's, unpaid carer's, compassionate, family and domestic violence, community service and unpaid parental leave, plus public holidays. Long service leave comes mostly from state and territory law. TOIL, RDOs, purchased, ceremonial, defence reserve and study leave depend on your award, agreement, contract or policy.
What are the 5 types of leave?
There is no official list of five. People usually mean annual leave, sick and carer's leave, compassionate leave, family and domestic violence leave and parental leave. The NES also includes community service leave, public holidays and long service leave.
Which leave is paid out when I leave my job?
Unused annual leave, including annual leave loading if you would have received it when taking leave, and accrued or pro rata long service leave. Sick and carer's leave is not paid out, and compassionate leave cannot be cashed out. Some awards also pay untaken TOIL or RDOs on termination; the Nurses Award pays untaken TOIL at the overtime rate. See is sick leave paid out?
Is stress leave a type of leave?
No. Time off for stress is paid sick leave, taken from your personal/carer's balance, if you are unfit for work.
Is TOIL or an RDO leave?
Not under the NES. Both are arrangements set by an award or agreement, so the rules come from the instrument that covers you.
Can I buy extra leave?
Only by agreement or under an employer scheme. Award and agreement-free employees can agree to buy extra annual leave by giving up an equal amount of pay.
Do I get cultural or ceremonial leave?
Not under the NES, which has no ceremonial leave. Some awards and public sector agreements provide it; in the two awards checked here it is unpaid.
Does unpaid leave count as service?
Generally no. Under s 22(2), unpaid leave does not count as service, except community service leave and a period of stand down.
Author & reviewer
Sarah has spent over a decade advising Australian SMBs on Fair Work, NES compliance, and payroll. Based in Sydney, she has worked across hospitality, retail and professional services.