Annual leave is paid leave to allow employees to take time off work whilst still getting paid. An employer can only refuse an employee's annual leave request if the refusal is reasonable.
Awards, enterprise agreements and other registered agreements can offer annual leave of more than 4 weeks, but they cannot provide less. Some shift workers may receive 5 weeks of annual leave. Awards, enterprise and registered agreements generally provide additional entitlements relating to annual leave, including leave loading.
Annual leave continues to accumulate even when an employee is on:
- Paid annual or sick leave
- Community service leave (e.g., jury duty)
- Long service leave
Annual leave does not accumulate when an employee is on:
- Unpaid annual leave
- Unpaid sick/carer's leave
- Unpaid parental leave (The Australian Government's Paid Parental Leave Scheme is not considered to be paid leave.)
- Unpaid family and domestic leave
Annual leave accumulates from the first day of employment and continues to accumulate through the period of employment. Any unused annual leave will roll onto the next year and continue to accumulate until termination of employment. At the stage of termination, any unused annual leave will be paid out.
Annual leave paid out on termination should be the same amount that the employee would have received if they had taken the leave, i.e. leave loading is payable on leave on termination if they would have been entitled to it if the leave was taken.
For more information: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/annual-leave