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Leave

Leave entitlements for all employees covered by national workplace laws are included in the National Employment Standards (NES). 

From 1 January 2010, the NES replaced the non-pay rate provisions of the Australian Fair Pay and Conditions Standard (the Standard). If you are covered by the national workplace laws, the minimum entitlements in the NES apply to you regardless of your industrial instrument or contract of employment.

In this section

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National Employment Standards (NES)

The National Employment Standards are set out in the Fair Work Act 2009 and comprise 10 minimum standards of employment. They provide a safety net for all employees in the national workplace relations system and include specific provisions for leave.

Leave Calculator

The Leave Calculator helps you calculate annual and personal leave under the National Employment Standards (NES).

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Public holidays

On public holidays, employees who would usually work on that day are entitled to a day off with pay (subject to reasonable requests to work). Get more information on public holidays here.

Annual leave

Under the NES, all employees (except casual employees) get paid annual leave based on their ordinary hours of work. An annual leave entitlement that comes from an award or agreement may be different, but cannot be less than the NES entitlement. See details here.

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Sick leave

Sick leave is now known as personal leave and can be taken when the employee is sick or injured or when the employee needs to care for an immediate family or household member who is sick, injured or has an unexpected emergency. Learn more.

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Leave accrual

Annual leave, paid personal/carer’s leave and long service leave accumulate over time.  This section explains how this works.

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Personal, carer's & compassionate leave

All except casual employees are entitled to paid personal leave which is the same as sick leave. There are also entitlements to paid and unpaid carer’s leave and compassionate leave. For details, see this section.

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Parental leave

Parental leave is an unpaid period of time off that employees get when they become parents. This entitlement covers the birth of children and also adoption.

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Long service leave

Long service leave is a period of paid leave for employees who have been working for the same business for a long period of time. It is generally governed by state and territory laws and can usually be taken after 10 years continuous service.

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Community service leave

Find out when you can take leave to carry out community service activities such as jury service (including attendance for jury selection) or a ‘voluntary emergency management activity’.