Do part-time employees get the same leave entitlement as full-time?

Yes. The National Employment Standards give every permanent employee — full-time or part-time — 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year. The entitlement is identical in weeks. The difference is the absolute number of hours, because part-timers work fewer ordinary hours per week. A full-timer gets 152 hours (4 × 38); a half-time employee gets 80 hours (4 × 20). Both represent 4 weeks of their working pattern.

Can a part-time employee take annual leave as a full week?

Yes. When a part-time employee takes a week of annual leave, it is one week of their working pattern — not a full-time 38-hour week. If you work Monday to Wednesday (3 days), one week of annual leave consumes 3 days from your balance (your ordinary hours for that week). Public holidays falling on a day you would not ordinarily work do not count against your leave balance.

What happens to a part-time employee's annual leave on termination?

On termination, every hour of accrued but unused annual leave must be paid out at the ordinary base rate — plus leave loading if it applies under your award. The same rules govern part-timers and full-timers under section 90 of the Fair Work Act 2009. Tax is withheld under ATO Schedule 7 using the marginal-rate averaging method (reported as Lump Sum A on your income statement).

If I increase my hours mid-year, how does that affect my leave accrual?

Your leave accrual adjusts immediately when your ordinary hours change. The 0.07692 factor remains constant, but it is applied to your new, higher ordinary hours from the first pay period after the change. Your balance up to that date reflects the lower-hours rate; from that date it accrues faster. Payroll should update automatically — check your payslip after the first full pay period on your new hours.

Blog · Annual Leave · Updated 12 June 2026

Part-Time Employees and Annual Leave: Your Rights Under Australian Law

Q: How is annual leave calculated for part-time employees in Australia?

Part-time employees accrue annual leave at the same 0.07692 factor as full-time staff — 4 weeks divided by 52 weeks in a year. The factor is applied to actual ordinary hours worked. A part-timer on 20 hours per week accrues 20 × 0.07692 = 1.538 hours per week, giving 80 hours over a full year. That is 4 weeks at their part-time hours — the same 4-week NES entitlement as a full-timer, just fewer absolute hours.

Q: What is a permanent part-time employee for leave purposes?

A permanent part-time employee is engaged on an ongoing, regular basis for fewer than 38 ordinary hours per week, with agreed hours set out in writing. They receive all NES entitlements — including annual leave, personal/carer's leave, and parental leave — on a proportional basis. This is distinct from casual employees, who receive a 25% loading instead of leave entitlements.

Q: How does annual leave work for employees with irregular hours?

For employees whose hours vary week to week, the same 0.07692 accrual factor applies — but it is applied to the actual ordinary hours paid each pay period, not a fixed weekly average. Over time this automatically accounts for fluctuations. Many payroll systems calculate accrual per pay period on the hours actually worked. If your employer uses an average-hours method instead, ensure the average is calculated over a representative period (at least 12 months) under your award or agreement.

Q: Does leave loading apply to part-time employees?

Yes, if your modern award includes leave loading. The 17.5% loading applies to the ordinary base rate on leave hours taken — whether you work 10 hours a week or 38. The absolute dollar amount is smaller for part-timers because their ordinary rate applies to fewer hours, but the entitlement to loading itself is identical.

The most common misconception about part-time leave: that you get less than full-time employees. You don’t. You get the same 4 weeks per year — just fewer hours, because your working week is shorter. Here’s the exact maths.

10 min read · Australia · NES aligned · 2,200 words

Under the National Employment Standards, every permanent employee in Australia — full-time or part-time — is entitled to 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year. The accrual formula is identical: 0.07692 hours of leave for every ordinary hour worked. The only difference is that part-time employees work fewer ordinary hours per week, so the absolute number of leave hours is smaller. The entitlement in weeks is exactly the same.

Key facts for part-time employees

Same 4-week NES entitlement — identical to full-time, regardless of how many days you work
Same 0.07692 accrual factor — 4 weeks ÷ 52 weeks, applied to your actual ordinary hours
Proportional in hours, equal in weeks — a 20-hour week gives 80 hours/year; a 38-hour week gives 152 hours/year
Leave is measured in your weeks — one week off is your working week, not a full-timer’s 38-hour week
Same leave loading rights — 17.5% (where award applies) applies to your leave hours at your rate
Casual employees are different — they get 25% loading instead of accrued leave

The formula: proportional, not reduced

The Fair Work Act 2009 sets annual leave in weeks, not hours. That means the NES entitlement scales automatically to your working pattern. A part-timer working 3 days a week gets 4 weeks of leave — but 4 weeks of their 3-day schedule, not 4 weeks of a full-timer’s 5-day schedule.

Payroll systems implement this through the accrual factor:

Accrual factor = 4 weeks ÷ 52 weeks = 0.076923 hours of leave per ordinary hour worked — the same for every permanent employee in Australia

Apply that factor to your actual ordinary hours each pay period and your leave balance builds up to exactly 4 weeks of your working pattern by the end of the year. The maths is self-correcting: it doesn’t matter if you work 10 hours or 38 — the ratio always produces 4 weeks of your personal schedule.

Side-by-side: full-time vs part-time

The clearest way to see how the formula works across employment types is a direct comparison. Take two employees at the same employer, same award, same start date:

FT Full-Time Employee

Ordinary hours/week38 hrs

Accrual factor0.07692

Accrual per week2.923 hrs

Annual entitlement152 hrs

That equals4 weeks

PT Part-Time (20 hrs/wk)

Ordinary hours/week20 hrs

Accrual factor0.07692

Accrual per week1.538 hrs

Annual entitlement80 hrs

That equals4 weeks

The hours are different. The entitlement in weeks is identical. This is the principle the Fair Work Act calls proportional leave — the same standard, scaled to the employee’s own working pattern.

Your part-time leave accrual — try it live

The widget below calculates your accrual using the NES formula. Enter your actual ordinary hours and how long you’ve been working — the result is how much leave you’ve built up.

Part-time leave calculator

Live

My ordinary hours per week

Weeks worked so far

Hours of leave accrued 40.00 hrs

Equivalent days (at your schedule) 10.00 days

Weeks of leave earned 2.00 weeks

Email my result Full part-time calculator

Annual leave by hours per week — full reference table

Whatever your part-time arrangement, the table below shows exactly what your accrual looks like per week and over a full year. Every row produces the same answer in weeks — 4 — because the NES guarantee never changes, only the hours it represents.

Hrs/week	Days/week	Accrual per week	Annual entitlement	= Weeks
8 hrs	1 day	0.615 hrs	32 hrs	4 wks
12 hrs	1.5 days	0.923 hrs	48 hrs	4 wks
16 hrs	2 days	1.231 hrs	64 hrs	4 wks
20 hrs	2.5 days	1.538 hrs	80 hrs	4 wks
24 hrs	3 days	1.846 hrs	96 hrs	4 wks
28 hrs	3.5 days	2.154 hrs	112 hrs	4 wks
30 hrs	~4 days	2.308 hrs	120 hrs	4 wks
32 hrs	4 days	2.462 hrs	128 hrs	4 wks
36 hrs	4.5 days	2.769 hrs	144 hrs	4 wks

Are you eligible for permanent part-time leave entitlements?

Not every employee who works part-time hours qualifies for accrued annual leave. Casuals earn a 25% loading instead. The three questions below will tell you where you stand.

Permanent Part-Time Eligibility Check

Answer three quick questions to confirm your leave entitlement type.

Is your employment ongoing with regular, agreed hours?

Yes — I have set hours each week

No — my hours vary or are offered as needed

Does your employer refer to you as permanent or ongoing?

Yes — my contract or letter says permanent

No — I’m described as casual or temporary

Do you work fewer than 38 ordinary hours per week?

Yes — I work part-time hours

No — I work 38 hours or more

What “a week of annual leave” means when you’re part-time

This is where part-time employees most often feel short-changed — when they realise their week of leave “uses up” fewer hours than a full-timer’s week. But that’s exactly correct, and it works in your favour too.

When you take a week of annual leave, your employer deducts your ordinary working hours for that week from your leave balance — not a standardised 38-hour week. If you work Monday to Wednesday (24 hours per week), one week of leave costs 24 hours of your balance. A full-timer taking the same calendar week uses 38 hours of theirs.

This also means public holidays work differently for part-timers. If a public holiday falls on a Tuesday and you only work Monday and Friday, that public holiday has no impact on your leave balance — you weren’t going to be working on Tuesday anyway.

Public holidays during leave: the rule that protects you

Under section 116 of the Fair Work Act, a public holiday that falls on a day you would otherwise have worked cannot be counted against your annual leave balance. Your employer must substitute an additional day of leave or pay you for the public holiday — they cannot simply absorb it into your leave.

For part-timers, the key phrase is “would otherwise have worked.” If Monday is one of your regular days and Easter Monday falls on it, you are protected. If you don’t ordinarily work Mondays, that public holiday simply passes without affecting your entitlements either way.

Converting from casual to permanent part-time?

If you’ve recently converted from casual to permanent part-time employment, your annual leave accrual starts from your conversion date — not your original start date as a casual. The 25% casual loading you received covered you for the period before conversion. Going forward, you now accrue leave at the standard 0.07692 rate on your ordinary hours.

The part-time annual leave calculator lets you enter a start date so the accrual calculates correctly from conversion. If your employer has offered to count some of your casual service toward leave, confirm this in writing before relying on it.

Annual leave accrual when your hours vary

Some part-time employees don’t have fixed weekly hours — they have a minimum guarantee with flexibility around it, or their roster changes from week to week. The NES formula still works; the key is that accrual is calculated on ordinary hours actually paid each pay period, not a theoretical average.

In practice, this means:

A week you work 15 hours, you accrue 15 × 0.07692 = 1.154 hours of leave.
A week you work 25 hours, you accrue 25 × 0.07692 = 1.923 hours of leave.
Over time, your balance reflects exactly the hours you actually worked — no over- or under-counting.

If your employer’s payroll uses a fixed weekly-average method rather than the actual-hours method, ensure the average being used is truly representative — typically calculated over the preceding 12 months or the full period of employment if shorter.

Leave loading for part-time employees

If your modern award includes leave loading — and most do, at the standard 17.5% rate — it applies to your leave in exactly the same way as it does for full-timers. The loading is calculated on your ordinary time rate, applied to the hours of leave taken.

For a part-timer on $28/hour working 20 ordinary hours per week taking one week’s leave:

Leave hours taken: 20 hours
Ordinary pay for leave: 20 × $28 = $560
Leave loading (17.5%): $560 × 0.175 = $98
Total leave payment: $658 (before tax)

A full-timer on the same rate would receive $1,054 for the same calendar week — not because the entitlement is better, but because their week is 38 hours. The loading percentage itself is identical.

What happens to your leave when you resign or are made redundant

The payout rules for part-time employees on termination are identical to those for full-time employees. Every hour of accrued but untaken annual leave must be paid out at your ordinary base rate — plus leave loading if applicable under your award. This is mandatory under section 90 of the Fair Work Act 2009.

The calculation is straightforward: accrued hours × hourly rate (× 1.175 if loading applies). Tax is withheld under the ATO’s Schedule 7 marginal-rate averaging method and reported as Lump Sum A on your income statement.

The question part-timers ask most

Do I actually get the same leave as full-time staff?

Yes — and no. The legal entitlement is identical: 4 weeks per year under the National Employment Standards. What differs is the absolute number of hours, because 4 weeks of your shorter working week is fewer hours than 4 weeks of a 38-hour week.

So a 20-hour-per-week part-timer gets 80 hours of annual leave per year. A 38-hour-per-week full-timer gets 152. Both have taken exactly 4 weeks. Neither has more or less of the entitlement — they have more or less of the hours, which is a function of how much they work.

The Fair Work Ombudsman explicitly states the entitlement is proportional, not reduced. If your employer is suggesting part-time employees receive fewer weeks of leave than full-timers, they are incorrect and potentially in breach of the NES. Confirm your entitlement with the Fair Work Ombudsman →

Accrual during leave, sick days and public holidays

Annual leave continues to accrue during periods of paid leave — including when you’re actually on annual leave. The rules for part-time employees are the same as for full-timers:

Paid annual leave — accrues annual leave (you earn leave while taking leave).
Paid personal/carer’s leave — accrues annual leave at your ordinary hours for that period.
Paid public holidays on your working days — accrue annual leave.
Unpaid leave of any kind — does not accrue annual leave.
Workers’ compensation — varies by state; some weekly compensation periods do accrue, others don’t.

If you work irregular hours and take paid personal leave for a day you would have worked 4 hours, your annual leave accrues on those 4 ordinary hours — the actual hours you were absent for, not a standardised daily rate.

The bottom line for part-time workers

The NES treats part-time and full-time permanent employees identically when it comes to the entitlement. The formula — 0.07692 hours of leave per ordinary hour worked — makes no distinction. A 20-hour-a-week employee accrues leave at exactly the same rate as a 38-hour-a-week employee; the absolute hours in their balance are just smaller, because their ordinary week is shorter.

What matters most in practice: make sure your employer is applying the accrual factor to your actual ordinary hours, not a notional full-time rate. If your payslip’s leave accrual line doesn’t match hours worked × 0.07692, ask payroll to explain the difference. Most errors are configuration mistakes, quickly fixed once identified.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the National Employment Standards as set out in the Fair Work Act 2009. Modern awards, enterprise agreements and individual contracts can vary some provisions — particularly leave loading on termination and accrual rules during workers’ compensation. For binding advice on your specific situation, consult the Fair Work Ombudsman, your relevant award, or a qualified workplace relations professional. WorkCalc Australia is independent and not affiliated with Fair Work or the ATO.

Frequently asked questions about part-time annual leave

Plain-English answers on the 0.07692 rate, proportionality, casual vs permanent, and what happens when things change mid-year.

How is annual leave calculated for part-time employees in Australia?

The formula is identical to full-time: ordinary hours worked × 0.07692. That factor is 4 weeks ÷ 52 weeks — the NES annual leave entitlement expressed as a fraction of an hour of leave per ordinary hour worked. A part-timer on 20 hours accrues 20 × 0.07692 = 1.538 hours per week. Over 52 weeks that’s 80 hours — exactly 4 weeks of their 20-hour schedule.

Do part-time employees get the same leave as full-time staff?

Yes — in weeks. The NES gives every permanent employee 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year, regardless of hours. The number of hours differs because the working week differs. A part-timer on 20 hours gets 80 hours per year; a full-timer on 38 hours gets 152 hours. Both represent 4 weeks of their respective working patterns. Neither has fewer weeks of leave.

What is a permanent part-time employee for leave purposes?

A permanent part-time employee works fewer than 38 ordinary hours per week on an ongoing basis with agreed, regular hours. They receive all NES entitlements — including annual leave, sick leave, and parental leave — on a proportional basis. This contrasts with casual employees, who have no guaranteed hours and receive a 25% loading in lieu of leave entitlements.

How does annual leave work for employees with irregular hours?

The 0.07692 factor applies to the ordinary hours actually paid each pay period. A week on 15 hours accrues 1.154 hours; a week on 25 hours accrues 1.923. Over time the balance reflects actual hours worked. If your employer uses a weekly-average method, ensure the average covers at least the past 12 months to be representative.

Can a part-time employee take a “week” of leave?

Yes. One week of annual leave deducts your ordinary working hours for that week from your balance — not 38 hours. If you work 24 hours per week, one week off costs 24 hours. A public holiday falling on a day you don’t ordinarily work does not affect your balance either way.

Does leave loading apply to part-time employees?

Yes, where the modern award includes it. The 17.5% loading applies to your ordinary rate on leave hours taken — the percentage is identical to full-time, just applied to your smaller number of leave hours. Check your relevant modern award to confirm whether loading applies, as some awards have absorbed it into higher base rates.

What happens to a part-time employee’s leave on termination?

Every accrued hour must be paid out at your ordinary base rate — plus loading if applicable under your award. This is mandatory under section 90 of the Fair Work Act 2009, and the rules are the same for part-timers and full-timers. The payout is taxed under ATO Schedule 7 and reported as Lump Sum A.

If I increase my hours mid-year, how does my accrual change?

Your accrual adjusts immediately from the first pay period on your new hours. The 0.07692 factor stays the same; it’s simply multiplied against a higher number of ordinary hours. Your prior balance stays as-is; future accrual is faster. Check your payslip after the first full pay period on your new hours to confirm payroll has updated correctly.