Sick Leave Calculator

Work out how much paid sick and carer’s leave, also called personal leave, you have accrued, what is left after the days you have taken, and what a day of it is worth at your base rate. Full-time employees get 10 days a year under the National Employment Standards, part-time employees get it pro rata, and it builds up at 1/26 of your ordinary hours from your first day.

Your details

Ordinary hours a week

Weeks worked

Count paid leave weeks. Do not count unpaid leave or time on workers compensation.

Sick or carer’s leave already taken

Base hourly rate

I am a casual

Sick and carer’s leave accrued

76.0 hours

Entitlement in a full year: 76.0 hours, 10 notional days
Hours accrued this period: 76.00 hours
Hours taken: 0.0 hours
Balance: 76.00 hours
Balance in notional days: 10.00
A notional day on your hours: 7.60 hours
Value of the balance at your base rate: $2,660.00
Value of one day at your base rate: $266.00
Accrued per week worked: 1.462 hours

Casual employees get no paid sick leave. Unused leave carries over year to year and is not paid out when you leave.

Worked examples, with the arithmetic.

The same sums the tool runs, on real figures. Every number below is computed by the tested engine from the published rates, so the prose and the tool can never disagree.

How much sick leave does a 38-hour week accrue in six months?

38 hours x 26 weeks           = 988 ordinary hours
988 / 26                      = 38.0 hours of sick leave
38 x 2 / 10                   = 7.6 hours in a notional day
38.0 / 7.6                    = 5.0 days

After 26 weeks a full-time employee on 38 hours has accrued 38.0 hours, which is 5 notional days of 7.6 hours. Over the full year that reaches 76 hours, the figure Fair Work gives in its own example.

What sick leave does a 20-hour part-time week accrue in a year?

20 hours x 52 weeks           = 1,040 ordinary hours
1,040 / 26                    = 40.0 hours of sick leave
20 x 2 / 10                   = 4.0 hours in a notional day

40 hours, which is still 10 days for that person because a day is 4.0 hours on a 20-hour week. Part-time employees get the same 10 days measured against their own ordinary hours, so the days match and the hours do not.

What is the balance after three sick days on a 38-hour week?

38 hours x 52 / 26            = 76.0 hours accrued
3 days x 7.6 hours            = 22.8 hours taken
76.0 - 22.8                   = 53.2 hours left
53.2 / 7.6                    = 7.0 days

Three days off on a 38-hour week uses 22.8 hours, leaving 53.2 hours, or 7 notional days. The balance is kept in hours, so a 7.6-hour day and a 12-hour shift draw it down at different rates.

What is one sick day worth at $35 an hour?

7.6 hours x $35               = $266.00 for one day
76 hours x $35                = $2,660.00 for the full year

A sick day on a 38-hour week is paid at the base rate for 7.6 ordinary hours, so at $35 an hour it is $266.00. Overtime, penalties and allowances are left out, so a day that would have carried a penalty rate is worth less as sick leave than it would have been worked.

Is this accurate, and how does it work?

The method is published rather than described. Nothing here is a black box, and the limits are listed as plainly as the workings.

1Take 1/26 of your ordinary hours. Section 96 of the Fair Work Act gives 10 days a year, and Fair Work calculates it as 1/26 of your ordinary hours of work in a year. A 38-hour week accrues 76 hours a year, about 1.46 hours for every week worked. It does not matter how the hours are spread: 38 hours over four days accrues the same as 38 over five.
2Count a day as one tenth of a fortnight. In Mondelez v AMWU [2020] HCA 29 the High Court declared that "10 days" means the ordinary hours you work in a fortnight, and that a day is a notional day of one tenth of that. On a 38-hour week a day is 7.6 hours. A 36-hour week worked as three 12-hour shifts accrues 72 hours, which covers six shifts, not ten. That is why balances are kept in hours.
3Accrue from day one, on paid time only. Leave starts building on your first day, including probation. It keeps accruing while you are on paid annual leave, paid sick leave, community service leave and long service leave. It does not accrue on unpaid annual, sick, parental or family and domestic violence leave, and whether it accrues on workers compensation depends on your state or territory.
4Apply the same rule pro rata for part-time hours. Part-time employees get the same 10 notional days measured against their own hours. Fair Work’s example is Rebecca on 19 hours a week, who accrues 38 hours a year, half of a full-time colleague’s 76. If your hours are irregular and no award covers you, Fair Work averages the last four weeks to find your ordinary hours. A part-time salary is scaled the same way, and the Pro Rata Salary Calculator works it out from the full-time figure.
5Value a day at the base rate for ordinary hours. Section 99 pays sick leave at your base rate for the ordinary hours you would have worked, and the Hourly Rate Calculator converts an annual salary into that rate. Overtime, penalty rates, loadings, allowances and bonuses are left out. A public holiday that falls inside a period of sick leave is paid as a public holiday and not taken off your balance.
6Treat it as separate from annual leave. Sick leave accrues at exactly half the annual leave rate, two weeks a year against four, but the rules diverge from there. Unused sick leave carries over with no cap and no expiry, it cannot be cashed out except under the Timber and Stevedoring awards or an agreement, and it is not paid out when you leave. Annual leave is, with any leave loading on top, and the Annual Leave Calculator and Leave Loading Calculator cover those.

What this does not cover.

It calculates the National Employment Standards minimum. An award or agreement can give more, never less, so check yours, starting from the Award Pay Rates hub if you are not sure which award applies.
It assumes steady ordinary hours. Irregular part-time hours accrue on the hours actually worked, and the four-week averaging Fair Work uses for award-free employees is described, not modelled.
It does not model workers compensation periods. Whether sick leave accrues on them turns on state or territory law under section 130, so leave those weeks out of the weeks worked.
It does not model leave at half pay, transfers of business, or service with a previous employer.
It values a day at the base rate you enter and does not withhold tax on it.
It is not the Fair Work Leave Calculator, which reads your award and asks for dates. Use that to check a balance your employer has given you.

Where these figures come from.

Fair Work Ombudsman, Paid sick and carer's leave, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-10. Retrieved 2026-09-17.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Unpaid carer's leave, the source gave its own last updated date as 2025-10-23. Retrieved 2026-09-17.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Compassionate and bereavement leave, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-07. Retrieved 2026-09-17.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Family and domestic violence leave, the source gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-10. Retrieved 2026-09-17.

Every rate this site uses is listed on the Methodology page.

Common questions.

How is sick leave calculated in Australia?

Paid sick and carer’s leave is 1/26 of your ordinary hours of work in a year, which the Fair Work Act expresses as 10 days. A full-time employee on 38 hours a week gets 76 hours a year. Part-time employees get the same fraction of their own ordinary hours. The entitlement accrues progressively from your first day and the balance carries over each year. Long service leave works on years rather than hours, and the Long Service Leave Calculator covers each state and territory.

How much sick leave do I accrue per week?

Your ordinary hours for the week divided by 26. On a 38-hour week that is about 1.46 hours a week, or 2.92 hours a fortnight. On a 20-hour week it is about 0.77 hours a week. Fair Work publishes the yearly figure, so these per-week numbers are the same arithmetic spread across 52 weeks, not a separate rate.

Do casual employees get paid sick leave?

No. Section 95 of the Fair Work Act excludes casual employees from paid sick and carer’s leave, and the casual loading, which the Casual Loading Calculator puts a figure on, is paid partly in place of it. Casuals do get 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion, 2 days of unpaid compassionate leave per occasion, and 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave a year.

Does sick leave reset each year or carry over?

It carries over. Unused sick and carer’s leave rolls into the next year of service with no cap on the balance and no expiry under the National Employment Standards. There is no minimum or maximum amount you can take at a time, so a large balance can be used in one stretch.

Is sick leave paid out when I resign?

No. Fair Work states that sick and carer’s leave is not paid out when employment ends, and the Act has no provision requiring it. Untaken annual leave must be paid out under section 90. An award, agreement or contract can add to the National Employment Standards but cannot take from them, so check yours before assuming a payout. Redundancy does not change that: the Redundancy Calculator works out what is owed when a job ends that way, and unused sick leave is not part of it.

Does sick leave keep accruing while I am on annual leave?

Yes. Sick and carer’s leave accrues during paid leave, including paid annual leave, paid sick and carer’s leave, community service leave and long service leave. It does not accrue during unpaid leave, including unpaid annual leave, unpaid sick leave, unpaid parental leave and unpaid family and domestic violence leave.

Does sick leave accrue on workers compensation?

It depends on the state or territory, because section 130 of the Fair Work Act defers to workers compensation law. Fair Work’s Library article K600454 says it accrues in Queensland and South Australia, in Western Australia from 1 July 2024, and for Commonwealth employees for 45 weeks only. It does not accrue in the ACT, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Tasmania, Victoria or Norfolk Island. This calculator does not model it: leave those weeks out of the weeks worked.

Do I get paid sick leave for a public holiday?

If a public holiday falls during a period of paid sick leave, you are paid for the public holiday and it is not deducted from your sick leave balance, under section 98. If you were rostered to work the public holiday on a day you do not normally work and call in sick, there is no payment for that day.

Do I need a medical certificate for one day off?

If your employer asks for it, yes. Section 107 lets an employer require evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person, and Fair Work says that can be for as little as one day or less. A medical certificate or a statutory declaration are the usual forms, and an award or agreement can specify which. If the evidence is asked for and not given, section 107(4) says you are not entitled to the leave.

Can I cash out sick leave?

Almost never. Fair Work says only the Timber Award and the Stevedoring Award allow it, and an enterprise agreement can. Even then section 101 requires a separate written agreement each time, and the cash-out cannot leave you with fewer than 15 days accrued.

What is a day of sick leave if I work 12-hour shifts?

One tenth of the ordinary hours you work in a fortnight, which the High Court called a notional day. On a 36-hour week worked as three 12-hour shifts, a year accrues 72 hours. That covers six 12-hour shifts, or ten days of 7.2 hours. The hours are the same either way, which is why this calculator keeps the balance in hours and shows days as a conversion.

Related pages.

Annual Leave CalculatorWork out an annual leave payout when you leave a job: your unused hours at the base rate, any leave loading, and the tax withheld under Schedule 7 for 2026-27.
Casual Loading CalculatorConvert a permanent base hourly rate into a casual rate with loading, and see what the loading is worth each week.
Leave Loading CalculatorWork out annual leave loading on a period of leave, and check whether the 17.5% figure actually applies to you.
Hourly Rate CalculatorConvert an hourly rate to a weekly, fortnightly or annual salary and back again, with take-home pay after income tax and the Medicare levy.
Award Pay RatesModern award minimum pay rates by industry, how classification levels and pay points work, and how casual loading and penalty rates change what you earn.

Every calculator on this site is listed on the Wage Calculator page.