Annual Leave

Under the NES, the basic entitlement for all employees is four (4) weeks of annual leave. An employee employed as a shiftworker is entitled to an additional one (1) week of annual leave, making a total of five (5) weeks of annual leave.

A shiftworker is an employee who:-

• works a roster and who, over the roster cycle, may be rostered to work ordinary shifts on any of the seven (7) days of the week; and
• is regularly rostered to work Sundays and Public Holidays.

An employee who does not work a full year as a shiftworker will receive the shiftworker entitlement on a pro-rata basis - for every month completed the annual leave entitlement will be increased by on half day, provided that a limit of ten (10) months is the year will be counted towards the accrual of the additional leave to bring the entitlement up to an additional five (5) days.

An employee may also be entitled to be paid the annual leave loading of 17.5%. However, if the employee under their roster, or projected roster, would be paid a greater amount than the annual leave loading of 17.5% because of the payment of shift or weekend penalty payments then the employee would receive the payment for their roster, or projected roster, not the annual leave loading.

Download the fact sheet for more information:

5394_Annual_Leave_11.pdf