Is Personal Leave Paid in Australia?

Personal leave is paid in Australia when a full-time or part-time employee has accrued paid personal/carer's leave, takes it for a permitted reason and meets applicable notice and evidence requirements. It is paid at the employee's base rate for the ordinary hours they would have worked during the absence.

The paid entitlement covers the employee's own illness or injury and qualifying care or support for an immediate family or household member. “Sick leave” and “carer's leave” are uses of the same paid personal/carer's leave balance rather than separate statutory accounts.

Casual employees generally do not receive paid personal leave under the National Employment Standards. They may have 2 days unpaid carer's leave per permissible occasion and other separate entitlements. A workplace can provide more generous benefits through an award, enterprise agreement, contract or policy.

This page focuses on when payment applies. For the permitted reasons, read What Can Personal Leave Be Used For?. For the terminology, see Difference Between Sick Leave and Personal Leave.

This is general workplace information, not personal legal, payroll or financial advice. Payment depends on employment type, available balance, ordinary hours and applicable terms. A medical certificate can support an absence but does not itself create paid leave or guarantee employer approval.

Key Points

• Full-time and part-time employees accrue paid personal/carer's leave.
• Full-time employees generally accrue the equivalent of 10 days each year.
• Part-time employees accrue a pro-rata amount based on ordinary hours.
• Casual employees generally do not accrue paid personal leave.
• Payment is at the base pay rate for ordinary hours that would have been worked.
• Overtime, penalties, bonuses, allowances and separate loadings are generally not included in the base rate.
• The employee needs a qualifying illness, injury or caring reason and an available balance.
• Notice and reasonable evidence may be required, including for a short absence.
• Unused paid personal leave carries over but is not normally paid out when employment ends.

Medical Certificates

Who Gets Paid Personal Leave?

The Fair Work Ombudsman's paid sick and carer's leave guidance says full-time and part-time employees can take paid leave when they are unfit because of personal illness or injury or need to provide qualifying care or support.

Full-time employees receive an annual entitlement based on 10 days of ordinary hours. Part-time employees receive a proportional amount. Both accrue leave progressively from their first day, and unused leave carries over.

An award, agreement or contract can provide more than the minimum but cannot reduce National Employment Standards entitlements. Employees should check the document that covers their employment.

How Much Is Paid?

The Fair Work payment page says paid sick or carer's leave is paid at the employee's base rate for each hour or part-hour taken. The employee is paid for ordinary hours they would normally have worked.

The base rate generally excludes overtime, penalty rates, bonuses, incentive payments, allowances and separate loadings. This means the leave payment can be lower than earnings for a shift that would ordinarily attract additional payments.

An award or agreement may offer more generous payment. Check the payslip and applicable instrument before concluding that a missing penalty automatically makes the payment wrong.

Full-Time Payment Example

A full-time employee normally works 7.6 ordinary hours on Monday. They are unfit for that day and have enough accrued leave. If notice and evidence requirements are met, 7.6 hours can generally be deducted and paid at the base rate.

If the employee usually works two hours of overtime on Monday, the sick leave payment ordinarily covers the 7.6 ordinary hours rather than the unworked overtime. The employee should compare the payroll entry with the award or agreement.

The annual accrual and the payment for a particular absence are related but different. The planned personal leave accrual guide explains the 1/26 ordinary-hours formula.

Part-Time Payment Example

A part-time employee is paid for the ordinary hours they would have worked during the qualifying absence, subject to their accrued balance. If they were rostered for five ordinary hours, five hours are generally deducted and paid, not a standard full-time “day”.

Part-time leave accrual is pro rata, so the available balance grows according to ordinary hours. Different daily patterns do not change the annual hours accrued when total ordinary hours are the same.

Variable or recently changed hours can make the calculation less obvious. Employees should ask payroll which ordinary-hours pattern was used and retain written roster and contract changes.

When Is Personal Leave Not Paid?

Payment may not apply if the worker is a casual, has no accrued balance, the absence is for a non-permitted reason, required notice or evidence is not provided, or the employee had no ordinary hours to work during the period.

For example, an employee generally cannot use paid personal leave merely to attend to moving house, travel or an ordinary personal errand. A routine medical appointment may need another arrangement if the employee is otherwise fit for work.

An employee who has been stood down and was not required to work those hours generally cannot substitute paid sick leave for them under the National Employment Standards. Individual stand-down facts can be complex and may require advice.

What If the Balance Is Too Low?

If an eligible employee has only three hours accrued but misses a full shift, the employer generally pays the available qualifying hours, and the remainder requires another lawful arrangement. Options may include annual leave, unpaid leave, leave in advance or flexible work if agreed.

An employer does not have to provide paid personal leave beyond the balance unless an award, agreement, contract or policy says otherwise. Employees should ask before assuming the negative balance will be approved.

The guide what happens when no sick leave is left discusses practical options without treating them as automatic entitlements.

Can Personal Leave Be Taken in Advance?

The National Employment Standards do not give every employee an automatic right to a negative personal leave balance. Some awards, enterprise agreements, contracts or employer policies allow leave in advance, and an employer can agree to it case by case.

Before accepting, ask how the advance will be recorded and what happens if employment ends before enough leave accrues to repay it. Any proposed final-pay deduction must have a lawful basis and satisfy the applicable rules.

If leave in advance is not available, annual leave, unpaid leave or adjusted work may be discussed. A genuine medical certificate supports incapacity but does not compel the employer to fund hours that have not accrued.

Book Online Consultation

Are Casual Employees Paid?

Casual employees generally do not accrue paid sick or carer's leave under the National Employment Standards. Their casual loading commonly compensates for certain entitlements they do not receive, but the loading is paid with worked hours and is not a leave account.

The Fair Work casual employee page lists casual minimum entitlements, including 2 days unpaid carer's leave per occasion. It does not list paid personal leave.

Read Do Casual Employees Get Paid Sick Leave? for regular casuals, certificates and roster issues.

Paid Personal Leave for Caring Responsibilities

Full-time and part-time employees can be paid from the same balance when an immediate family or household member needs care or support because of illness, injury or an unexpected emergency. The employee does not have to be personally sick.

Payment remains based on the employee's ordinary hours and base rate. The evidence may need to show the need for care or support rather than the employee's incapacity.

The amount and shared-balance rules are covered in How Much Paid Carer's Leave Do You Get?.

Notice and Evidence Affect Payment

Employees must notify the employer as soon as practicable and give the period or expected period away. This can be after leave starts when earlier notice was not possible. Workplace policies commonly specify the manager or system to contact.

The Fair Work notice and evidence guidance says an employer can ask for evidence for one day or less. Medical certificates and statutory declarations are examples, and evidence should satisfy a reasonable person.

If requested evidence is not supplied, the employee may not be entitled to payment. See what happens if medical evidence is not provided.

Does Personal Leave Roll Over or Get Paid Out?

Unused paid personal/carer's leave carries over during continuing employment. It is designed as protection for future illness, injury and caring responsibilities rather than a yearly bonus.

The Fair Work final pay page states that sick and carer's leave is not paid out when employment ends. Annual leave and some other entitlements have different termination rules.

Limited cashing-out may be allowed under particular awards or registered agreements and strict conditions, but that is not the ordinary termination position. Read sick leave payout when leaving a job for the distinction.

How to Check a Personal Leave Payment

1. Confirm whether employment is full-time, part-time or casual.
2. Check the accrued balance before the absence.
3. Identify ordinary hours that would have been worked.
4. Check the base pay rate and any more generous award or agreement term.
5. Confirm that notice and evidence requirements were met.
6. Compare the payslip deduction and payment with the roster.
7. Ask payroll for a written explanation of any discrepancy.

If unresolved, seek guidance from Fair Work, a union or an employment adviser. A clinician provides health evidence but does not calculate wages.

Payment When Only Part of a Shift Is Missed

If an employee works part of a shift and then becomes unfit, paid personal leave can generally apply to the remaining ordinary hours, subject to balance and evidence. Hours already worked should be paid as work, not deducted as leave.

Overtime that had been expected later in the shift is generally not personal leave payment. The employer should separate worked ordinary hours, any applicable worked penalties and the leave hours paid at the required rate.

A time-stamped notification and accurate payroll entry help avoid an entire day being deducted when only a part-day absence occurred.

Medical Certificates Do Not Guarantee Payment

A certificate may support that an employee was unfit for work for stated dates. The employer still checks balance, notice, evidence, employment type and industrial terms. A practitioner cannot order payroll to pay leave.

Certificates must reflect independent assessment and a clinically supported period. Dociva does not provide backdated certificates. Employees should arrange assessment promptly and never alter an issued document.

Urgent symptoms take priority over paperwork. Call 000 for a medical emergency or seek timely in-person care when the condition cannot safely be managed online.

More of Our Services

Using Dociva

Dociva currently accepts online requests for sick-leave, carer's leave, study and multi-day medical certificates. For a current request, an Australian registered medical practitioner independently reviews the supplied symptoms, dates and functional impact.

Submitting information does not guarantee a certificate or paid personal leave. Dociva does not calculate balances, base rates or employer obligations, and it does not backdate a certificate's issue date.

Review the medical certificate application if the request category is suitable, or use a general online consultation when broader clinical review is needed. Direct payroll and entitlement questions to the employer, Fair Work, a union or an employment adviser.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)