Annual leave entitlements under the Australia Fair Pay and Conditions Standard (the Standard) applied up to and including 31 December 2009 and were generally the same as those under the National Employment Standards (NES) with the following exceptions:
- Calculating annual leave - Under the Standard, annual leave accrued progressively and was credited every four weeks (and was calculated according to the nominal hours worked). An employee was credited leave each month and this leave was cumulative. Under the NES, leave accrues progressively based on ordinary hours worked.
- Cashing out accrued paid annual leave - Under the Standard, if an employee was covered by a workplace agreement that included a provision allowing cashing out, they could request to 'cash out' up to two weeks of their annual leave every 12 months.
- Calculating an excessive annual leave balance - Under the Standard, an excessive accumulated annual leave balance was equivalent to eight weeks for an employee working 38 hours per week over a two year period. An employer could only direct an employee to take up to 1/4 of their leave balance in this situation. The NES is not as prescriptive in this regard and rules regarding excessive leave balances would be in a modern award/enterprise agreement/transitional instrument that applies.