When your paid sick leave runs out, any hours still banked are paid and the rest of the absence is unpaid. Nothing accrues on the unpaid days, but if you give evidence your job is protected for up to 3 months.
There is no separate pot of "unpaid sick leave" in the National Employment Standards. The Act gives paid personal/carer's leave up to your balance, and after that the time off simply goes unpaid. This guide shows how a partly covered absence splits by the hour, what the unpaid days cost in wages, accrual and service, when annual leave can fill the gap, and what evidence keeps your job safe while you are not being paid.
Key takeaways
- Banked hours first, then unpaid. Your balance is used down to the hour, and only the hours beyond it go unpaid.
- Unpaid days earn nothing: no wages, no sick leave or annual leave accrual, and no service for redundancy pay.
- Your job is protected with evidence while you are away less than 3 months in a row or less than 3 months in total over 12 months.
- Evidence still matters on unpaid days. A medical certificate or statutory declaration within 24 hours, or your award's notice and evidence terms, is what keeps that protection.
- Annual leave is optional. You can ask to use it instead of unpaid time, and your employer cannot make you.
What happens when your sick leave runs out
The Fair Work Act lets you take paid personal/carer's leave when you are not fit for work because of your own illness or injury (s 97). You can take as much as you have accumulated, with no minimum or maximum per absence, and it is paid at your base rate for each hour or part of an hour taken. So a balance that runs out halfway through a shift pays for the first part of that shift and no more.
From that point the absence is unpaid. The Fair Work Ombudsman's own example on its unpaid leave page describes the same order: the employee first uses the personal leave they have accrued, then takes unpaid leave for the remaining time. Before you assume the next day is unpaid, check your award, enterprise agreement or contract: it can give more paid sick leave than the NES, though never less.
WA state-system employees (for example, employees of sole traders and partnerships in Western Australia) are covered by state law instead. The WA regulator says there is no minimum entitlement to unpaid personal leave for your own illness, but that you and your employer can agree to leave without pay.
Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s 97, Compilation No. 73 (7 July 2026): paid personal/carer's leave may be taken "because the employee is not fit for work because of a personal illness, or personal injury, affecting the employee". Fair Work Ombudsman, Paid sick and carer's leave (updated 10 August 2026): "An employee can take as much paid sick or carer's leave as they have accumulated." "A registered agreement, award or contract can set out different entitlements to paid sick and carer's leave, but they can't be less than the minimum in the National Employment Standards." Payment for sick and carer's leave (updated 10 August 2026): paid "for each hour or part of an hour of leave they take." Unpaid leave (updated 23 October 2025, read 11 October 2026), Chas example: "Chas will first use up the personal leave they have accrued and will then take unpaid leave for the remaining time." WA Government, Personal leave (updated 16 January 2026, read 11 October 2026): "Employees do not have a specific minimum entitlement to unpaid personal leave for a personal illness or injury."
What unpaid sick days cost you
The lost wages are the obvious cost. The less obvious ones are the leave and service you stop building while you are off without pay. Paid sick leave accrues at 1/26 of your ordinary hours and does not accrue during unpaid sick leave. Annual leave accrues across a year of service according to your ordinary hours, and unpaid leave does not count as service, so annual leave stops too. Four weeks a year on a 38-hour week is 152 hours out of 1,976, which is exactly 1/13.
| Item | On unpaid sick days | How to work it out |
|---|---|---|
| Wages for the hours | Not paid | Hours × your base rate |
| Paid sick leave accrual | Stops | Unpaid hours ÷ 26 |
| Annual leave accrual | Stops | Unpaid hours ÷ 13 (4 weeks is 1/13 of a 38-hour year) |
| Public holiday inside the unpaid stretch | Not paid | The holiday hours × your base rate |
| Service for redundancy pay | Not counted | Unpaid days come off the length of service |
Public holidays are the trap most people miss. A holiday that falls inside paid sick leave is paid and does not come off your balance. A holiday that falls inside the unpaid stretch is not paid at all. Service has a split answer: the Fair Work Ombudsman says unpaid leave is left out when working out redundancy pay, but approved unpaid leave under the NES still counts for notice of termination. It also says that unauthorised absences, meaning time away without the employer's approval, don't count as service.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Paid sick and carer's leave (updated 10 August 2026): "This can be calculated as 1/26 of an employee's ordinary hours of work in a year." Paid leave does not accumulate during "unpaid sick or carer's leave". Fair Work Act s 87(2): annual leave "accrues progressively during a year of service ... according to the employee's ordinary hours of work". Fair Work Act s 22(2), Compilation No. 73: periods of unpaid leave do not count as service, other than community service leave and stand down. FWO, Not working on public holidays (updated 10 August 2026): "An employee isn't paid for any public holiday that falls during a time when the employee is on unpaid leave." FWO, Unpaid leave (updated 23 October 2025, read 11 October 2026): Bronte example (redundancy pay excludes her year of unpaid leave; notice counts the whole time); "Unauthorised absences are times away from work without the employer's approval." "Unauthorised absences don't count as service."
Enter your start date and any unpaid weeks in accrued sick days to see your banked hours. Part-timers can check their hours with the part-time sick leave calculator, and everyone else with the personal leave calculator.
Using annual leave instead of unpaid sick leave
Annual leave is taken for a period you and your employer agree on, and your employer must not unreasonably refuse a request. That cuts both ways. You can ask to cover sick days with annual leave so the pay keeps coming, and your employer cannot insist that you burn annual leave before going unpaid. Some pages online imply that annual leave must be used up first; the Act does not say that.
The trade-off is simple. Annual leave keeps your wages and your accrual running, because paid leave counts as service. Unpaid days keep your annual leave balance intact for a holiday later, at the cost of the pay and accrual. The annual leave calculator shows what your balance is worth.
Do you need a medical certificate for unpaid sick leave?
Yes, in practice, because evidence is what protects your job. For the paid part of an absence, your employer can ask for evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person, even for 1 day or less, and you may not be paid if you do not give it. Those rules sit in s 107, which deals with leave under the personal/carer's leave Division. For the unpaid part, the protection against dismissal comes from s 352 and the Fair Work Regulations, and they set their own evidence test.
Under reg 3.01, your illness or injury is a protected kind if you give your employer a medical certificate or a statutory declaration about it within 24 hours after the absence starts, or within a longer period that is reasonable in the circumstances. It is also protected if your award or agreement requires you to notify the absence and substantiate the reason, and you do both. Sending the certificate on day one of an absence you expect to run past your balance covers both the paid and the unpaid days. More on what counts as evidence is in sick leave evidence and doctor's certificate for sick leave.
Fair Work Regulations 2009 reg 3.01(2): "A prescribed kind of illness or injury exists if the employee provides a medical certificate for the illness or injury, or a statutory declaration about the illness or injury, within: (a) 24 hours after the commencement of the absence; or (b) such longer period as is reasonable in the circumstances." Reg 3.01(3): the employee is required by a workplace instrument to notify the absence and substantiate the reason, and complies. Fair Work Act s 107(4): "An employee is not entitled to take leave under this Division unless the employee complies with this section." FWO, Notice and medical certificates (updated 10 August 2026): "Employers can ask employees to provide evidence for as little as 1 day or less off work." "An employee who doesn't give their employer evidence when asked may not be entitled to be paid for their sick or carer's leave." AustLII, retrieved 7 October 2026.
Can you be fired for taking unpaid sick leave?
Not because of the absence, as long as you have given evidence and you are inside the limit. The protection holds while you are away less than 3 consecutive months, or less than 3 months in total over the last 12 months, or still on paid sick leave. It ends only when both things are true: you have passed the 3-month limit and your paid sick leave is used up. What other protections remain after that, and how unfair dismissal works, is covered in can you get fired for too many sick days.
If it is someone else who is sick
Unpaid carer's leave is for caring for a member of your immediate family or household, not for your own illness. Full-time and part-time employees get 2 days per occasion once their paid balance is empty, and the days can be split, for example into 4 half days. The detail is in carer's leave.
Casuals: every sick day is unpaid
Casual employees do not get paid sick leave, so any shift missed through illness is unpaid. Casuals are paid a casual loading instead, a higher rate for being casual. They do get 2 days of unpaid carer's leave per occasion from the first day. The full picture is in do casuals get sick leave.
Worked examples
The hourly rates below are example base rates, not award rates. Each example assumes no public holiday falls in the dates shown; if one did fall on an unpaid day, it would not be paid.
Nadia: two weeks off, four days banked
Nadia works full-time, 38 hours over Monday to Friday, at an example base rate of $35.00 an hour. She has 30.4 hours (4 days) of sick leave banked. She is unwell from Monday 15 February to Friday 26 February 2027, 10 working days or 76 hours, and emails a medical certificate on the first morning.
| Item | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid sick leave (Mon 15 to Thu 18 Feb) | 30.4 hours × $35.00 | $1,064.00 paid |
| Unpaid (Fri 19 Feb, Mon 22 to Fri 26 Feb) | 45.6 hours × $35.00 | $1,596.00 not paid |
| Sick leave not accrued | 45.6 ÷ 26 | 1.75 hours |
| Annual leave not accrued | 45.6 ÷ 13 | 3.51 hours |
| Service | 6 unpaid working days | Not counted for redundancy pay |
| Job protection | Well under 3 months; certificate within 24 hours | Protected |
The same 6 uncovered days, three ways
| Choice | Pay for the 6 days | Accrual on those days | What it needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unpaid | $0.00 | None | Evidence to keep the dismissal protection |
| Annual leave | $1,596.00 at base rate (any award leave loading not included) | Continues | Your employer's agreement, which it must not unreasonably refuse |
| Unpaid carer's leave | Not available | n/a | Only for caring for someone else; Nadia is the one who is sick |
Leah: one shift, 3 hours left
Leah works part-time, 22.8 hours over 3 days of 7.6 hours, at an example base rate of $30.00. She has 3 hours banked and is off sick on Wednesday 3 March 2027. The first 3 hours are paid ($90.00). The other 4.6 hours are unpaid ($138.00 not paid). She also misses 0.18 hours of sick leave accrual and 0.35 hours of annual leave accrual.
Omar: a long recovery
Omar works full-time with 76 hours (10 days) banked. He has surgery and is off from Monday 1 March 2027, with medical certificates throughout. Paid sick leave covers Monday 1 to Friday 12 March. From Monday 15 March he is unpaid but still protected, because he has given evidence and has been away less than 3 consecutive months. Counting 3 calendar months from 1 March (our convention; the Act does not fix a counting method), his absence passes 3 months after Monday 31 May 2027. With his paid leave already used, the s 352 protection ends from then. Whether his employer could fairly dismiss him after that is a separate question, covered in can you get fired for too many sick days.
Jess: casual
Jess is casual. Flu keeps her off a rostered 6-hour Saturday shift, which is unpaid. The next Wednesday her son is sick, and she can take 2 days of unpaid carer's leave for that occasion, for example as 4 half days.
Unpaid sick leave: questions
What happens if I have no sick leave left?
Any hours still in your balance are paid, and the rest of the absence is unpaid. If you give evidence, your employer cannot dismiss you because of the absence while it stays under 3 months.
Is there unpaid sick leave in Australia?
Not as a separate NES entitlement. Once paid leave runs out, the time off for your own illness is simply unpaid, and the absence is protected if you give evidence.
Can I be fired for taking unpaid sick leave?
Not because of the absence, if you give evidence and you are away less than 3 consecutive months or less than 3 months in total over 12 months. The protection also holds for as long as you are on paid sick leave.
Does unpaid sick leave count as service?
No. Unpaid days do not count as service, so no sick leave or annual leave accrues for them and they are left out of the length of service for redundancy pay.
Do I need a medical certificate for unpaid sick leave?
To keep your job protected, give a medical certificate or statutory declaration within 24 hours of the absence starting (or a longer reasonable time), or follow your award's notice and evidence terms.
Can my employer make me use annual leave instead?
No. Annual leave is taken for a period you and your employer agree on, so it cannot be forced on you to cover sick days.
Can I use annual leave when I run out of sick leave?
Yes, if your employer agrees, and it must not unreasonably refuse your request.
Do I get paid for a public holiday while on unpaid sick leave?
No. A public holiday that falls during unpaid leave is not paid. During paid sick leave it is paid and not taken from your balance.
Do casuals get unpaid sick leave?
Every sick day for a casual is unpaid, because casuals have no paid sick leave. They do get 2 days of unpaid carer's leave per occasion.
Is unpaid sick leave different in Victoria or NSW?
No. National-system employees in every state follow the same NES rules. The exception is the WA state system, where the regulator says there is no minimum unpaid personal leave for your own illness, though leave without pay can be agreed.
Is unused sick leave paid out when I leave?
No. Sick and carer's leave isn't paid out when employment ends, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman's final pay page (updated 28 September 2026). The rare exceptions are in is sick leave paid out.
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.