Leave entitlements
The National Employment Standards (the standards) provide the minimum conditions of employment, including leave entitlements for all employees covered by national workplace laws.
Types of leave
Annual (holiday) leave
Under the standards, all employees (except casual employees) are entitled to at least 4 weeks of paid annual leave for every year of service.
Personal, carers' and compassionate leave
For every year of service, full-time and part-time employees are entitled to at least:
- 10 days of paid personal (sick)/carers' leave
- 2 days of unpaid carers' leave (if needed)
- 2 days of paid compassionate leave (if needed).
Casual employees are only entitled to 2 days of unpaid carers' leave (if needed) and 2 days of unpaid compassionate leave (if needed).
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).
View a list of Queensland public holidays.
Parental leave
Most employees are entitled to unpaid parental leave when a child is born or adopted.
You may also be able to claim paid parental leave through the Australian Government’s Paid Parental Leave Scheme.
If eligible you can access up to 18 weeks of government funded parental leave. The scheme may not change leave that your employer provides.
Contact Services Australia (phone 13 61 50) to see if you are eligible for the extra leave and for advice on how to make the most of your entitlements.
Parental leave includes maternity leave (for mums), paternity leave (for dads and partners) and adoption leave.
Find out if you are eligible for Dad and Partner Pay.
Long service leave
Long service leave is paid leave for employees who’ve worked for the same business for a long period of time (generally 10 years continuous service).
Long service leave obligations are outlined in the National Employment Standards. At this stage, the standards preserve long service leave entitlements in awards and agreements as they were at 31 December 2009.
Some long service leave is not covered by the standards.
Your entitlement to long service leave, generally, comes from Queensland long service leave legislation if on 31 December 2009:
- your award or agreement did not provide you with long service leave
- and
- you are currently employed in similar circumstances.
This may be replaced by a national long service leave standard in the future.
Community service leave
Community service leave is available for activities like:
- jury service (including attendance for jury selection)
- voluntary emergency management activities.
More information
Contact the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94 (8am–5.30pm, Mon–Fri except public holidays) for more information on leave entitlements.
You can also speak to your employer to find out more about your entitlements.