# Annual Leave Australia 2026 — 4 Weeks, 5 For Shiftworkers

Source page: https://valem.run/calculators/australia/holiday-entitlement

Under the National Employment Standards an employee other than a casual accumulates 4 weeks of paid annual leave for each year of service, and an employee classified as a shiftworker is entitled to 5 weeks. Because the entitlement is in weeks of your own working week, four weeks is 20 days on a five-day week and 16 on a four-day one.

**Tax year:** 2026

## How it is calculated

*"An employee (other than a casual employee) accumulates 4 weeks of paid annual leave for each year of service with the employer."* Four weeks of **your** week — so 20 days on a five-day week, 16 on a four-day one — and part-time employees accrue on the same basis rather than a reduced one.

**The word "accumulates" is what separates Australia from New Zealand.** Across the Tasman the four weeks *arise* after 12 months of continuous employment, so at eleven months the statutory answer is zero. In Australia the leave builds up as you go, so six months of service is ten days. Same headline figure, completely different answer for anyone in their first year.

**Shiftworkers get a fifth week.** *"An employee classified as a ‘shiftworker’ is entitled to 5 weeks of paid annual leave."* An award or registered agreement has to describe you as one; an award and agreement-free employee qualifies only if their enterprise rosters shifts continuously 24 hours a day seven days a week, they are regularly rostered to those shifts, and they regularly work Sundays and public holidays.

**Casual employees do not accrue annual leave under the NES at all** — which is the other half of why a single published figure explains little. And cashing out is possible only where an award or agreement allows it, with the employee retaining at least four weeks, a written agreement on each occasion, and payment matching what taking the leave would have paid.

## Worked example

With Days you work per week of 5, this model computes Days Entitled of 20.

## Inputs

| Name | Label | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `daysPerWeek` | Days you work per week | number |
| `isShiftworker` | You are classified as a shiftworker for the NES | boolean |
| `monthsWorked` | Months of service accrued | number |
| `daysTaken` | Days already taken | number |

## Sources

- [Fair Work Ombudsman, Annual leave and the National Employment Standards — fairwork.gov.au (four weeks for each year of service; five weeks for a shiftworker)](https://www.fairwork.gov.au/sites/default/files/migration/723/Annual-leave.pdf) (checked 2026-10-11)

## What this page claims

The Valem engine reproduces this model's formula through 8 self-test cases. That shows internal consistency, not that the formula matches current law; the cited sources are the evidence for that. Estimate, not tax advice.

## For agents

- Model manifest (formula, constants, test vectors): https://valem.run/calculators/australia/holiday-entitlement.json
- Compute by URL: https://valem.run/calculators/australia/holiday-entitlement.json?daysPerWeek=5
- MCP: https://valem.run/mcp/calculators (call `calculate` with calculator `australia/holiday-entitlement`)