Annual leave is federal. A Western Australia employee gets the same 4 weeks a year as everyone else under section 87 of the Fair Work Act, based on their own ordinary hours. What WA changes is which public holidays fall inside your leave, and those days do not come off your balance.
| Component | Formula | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Accrual rate (FULL-TIME) | 4 wks × 38h ÷ 52 | 2.923 hrs/wk |
| Hours accrued | 2.923 × 52 wks | 152.42 hrs |
| Hourly base rate | - | $35.00 |
| Base leave value | 152.42 × $35.00 | $5,334.62 |
| 17.5% leave loading | base × 0.175 | + $933.56 |
| Total payout | - | $6,268.17 |
Disclaimer: This tool does not constitute legal or financial advice. Results may be inaccurate due to changes in legislation or your circumstances. This tool does not constitute legal or financial advice. We do not recommend taking actions based solely on these results. The calculator makes assumptions and results may be inaccurate due to changes in legislation, modern awards, or your personal circumstances. You use this information at your own risk. We can't guarantee to be perfect, so do note you use the information at your own risk and we can't accept liability if things go wrong. For official guidance, visit Fair Work Ombudsman (fairwork.gov.au). Fair Work Ombudsman.
Under section 89 of the Fair Work Act, if a public holiday falls inside a period of paid annual leave you are taken to be on the public holiday, not on leave. The day is paid and it is not deducted from your balance. So the same week off costs you fewer hours when it contains a holiday.
Western Australia has 13 full-day public holidays in 2026, and 10 of them fall on a weekday, which is when a holiday actually saves you leave. A holiday landing on a Saturday or Sunday you never work saves you nothing.
The full WA calendar for 2026 and 2027, with the substitute-day rules, is on WA public holidays. To find the weeks that already sit beside a holiday, see long weekends in Australia.
Annual leave comes from the federal Act. Long service leave does not: it comes from the Long Service Leave Act 1958 (WA), administered by Wageline WA, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. The two accrue at the same time and neither reduces the other.
In Western Australia the full long service entitlement is 8.667 weeks at 10 years, plus a further 4.333 weeks for every 5 years after that, and a pro-rata payout starts at 7 years, which is enough on its own. Full detail on WA long service leave.
It is worth being explicit, because plenty of pages imply otherwise. The 4-week entitlement, the accrual rate of your ordinary weekly hours divided by 13, the rule that unused annual leave is always paid out when you leave under s.90, and the cash-out rules under ss.92 to 94 are all federal and identical in every state and territory. Part-timers get the same 4 weeks pro rata on their own hours: see the part-time annual leave calculator.
The federal rules, and the state details that sit on top of them.