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National Employment Standards

Australian Annual Leave Calculator

Track your holiday accrual rate in exact hours based on a 38-hour week or part-time schedule.
Standard full-time in AU is 38 hours.
Enter 52 to see your full yearly entitlement.
Total Annual Leave Accrued
152.00
Hours
Accrual Rate: 2.923 Hours / Week
Resigning or changing jobs? Your accrued annual leave must be paid out to you. Use our Leave Payout Calculator to find out the exact dollar amount of your final settlement. Need to calculate personal/carer's leave? Check our Sick Leave Calculator.

How to calculate annual leave for a 38 hour week

Under the Fair Work National Employment Standards (NES), all full-time and part-time employees in Australia are entitled to 4 weeks of paid annual leave for every 12 months of service. However, because Australian payslips report leave balances in hours rather than days, employees constantly ask how to translate "4 weeks" into an exact hourly figure.

If you are a full-time employee, using an annual leave calculator 38 hour week tool is the most accurate way to check your payslip. The math is straightforward: 4 weeks multiplied by 38 hours equals 152 hours of total leave per year. When you divide 152 hours by 52 weeks in a year, you get a continuous accrual rate of exactly 2.923 hours per week.

Using a holiday leave calculator for part-time workers

Many Australians use the term holiday leave calculator when trying to figure out their pro-rata entitlements as a part-time worker. The rules for part-time employees are exactly the same as full-time employees, just scaled down.

For example, if you work 20 hours a week instead of 38, simply enter "20" into the calculator above. The tool will apply the same statutory NES formula (Hours per week × 4 ÷ 52) to show you that you accrue roughly 1.538 hours of paid holiday leave for every week you work.

Does sick leave accrue at the same rate?

No. While annual leave and sick leave both accrue continuously based on your ordinary hours of work, they do not accrue at the same speed. Full-time employees are entitled to 10 days (or 2 weeks) of paid sick/personal leave per year, which is exactly half the amount of annual leave. If you need to track your medical days off, please use our dedicated Australian sick leave calculator.

What happens to my annual leave if I quit?

Unlike sick leave, annual leave is treated as an absolute financial entitlement. If you resign, are fired, or are made redundant, your employer is legally obligated to pay you for every single hour of untaken annual leave remaining in your balance. They must calculate this payout at your base pay rate at the time of termination.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is annual leave calculated for a 38-hour week in Australia?

Under the National Employment Standards (NES), a full-time employee working 38 hours a week is entitled to 4 weeks (152 hours) of annual leave per year. This accrues gradually at a rate of approximately 2.923 hours per week.

Do part-time employees get annual leave?

Yes. Part-time employees also accrue 4 weeks of annual leave per year, but it is calculated on a pro-rata basis depending on their ordinary hours of work.

Do casual employees get paid annual leave?

No. Casual employees in Australia do not receive paid annual leave. Instead, they receive a casual loading (usually 25%) on their hourly rate to compensate for the lack of paid leave entitlements.