The calculator applies the National Employment Standard for paid personal/carer's leave (Fair Work Act 2009, s96 to s101). Awards and agreements can add to it, not take from it.
Every employee other than a casual gets 10 days of paid personal/carer's leave for each year of service (s96(1)). A "day" is a notional day: one tenth of the ordinary hours you work in a fortnight, so for a 38-hour week it is 7.6 hours and the year's entitlement is 76 hours (the High Court settled this in Mondelez v AMWU [2020] HCA 29). For a part-timer on 20 hours a week a day is 4 hours and the year's entitlement is 40 hours; that is the pro rata. The calculator uses 2 × your ordinary weekly hours per year of service.
The leave builds up progressively during the year according to your ordinary hours (s96(2)): after 6 months you have 5 days, not nothing. Whatever you do not use accumulates from year to year without limit (s96(2)). It accrues on paid time and paid leave, but not on unpaid leave or periods as a casual (s22, s96).
When you take it you are paid your base rate for the ordinary hours you would have worked (s99): no overtime, penalties or loadings. Your employer can ask for evidence such as a medical certificate or statutory declaration (s107).
Unlike annual leave, untaken personal/carer's leave is not paid out on termination under the Act; it simply lapses. Cashing out while employed is allowed only if your award or agreement has a cashing-out term, by written agreement each time, and only above a 15-day remaining balance (s100, s101). A few awards and agreements pay out some sick leave on termination; check yours.
Casuals have no paid personal/carer's leave (the casual loading is paid instead), but every employee including casuals can take 2 days of unpaid carer's leave per occasion (s102) and 2 days of compassionate leave per occasion, paid for non-casuals (s104 to s106), plus 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period (s106A).
Two years full time (38 hours a week), nothing taken: 2 × 10 days = 20 days, or 2 × 76 hours = 152 hours. After taking 3 days (22.8 hours), the balance is 17 days (129.2 hours). A part-timer on 19 hours a week after two years has 20 "days" of 3.8 hours = 76 hours.
Ten days of paid personal/carer's leave a year for full-time employees, pro rata for part-timers by their ordinary hours (s96). In hours it is two weeks of your ordinary hours: 76 hours for a 38-hour week. It covers your own illness or injury and caring for an immediate family or household member who is ill, injured or has an unexpected emergency (s97).
It accumulates. Untaken personal/carer's leave carries over from year to year with no cap (s96(2)), so long-serving employees can build large balances. It accrues progressively through the year rather than arriving as a block on your anniversary.
Not under the Fair Work Act. Personal/carer's leave lapses on termination; only annual leave (and long service leave where the state Act makes it payable) is paid out. Some awards and enterprise agreements, mostly older public-sector ones, do pay out part of it; check yours. Where it is paid, super is not payable on it (SGAA 1992 s6(1)).
Only if your award or enterprise agreement contains a cashing-out term. Each cash-out must be a separate written agreement, you must be paid at least what you would have got by taking the leave, and you must keep at least 15 days' balance (s100, s101).
No paid personal/carer's leave: casual periods are excluded from s96 and the casual loading compensates for it. Casuals can take 2 days of unpaid carer's leave per occasion (s102), 2 days of unpaid compassionate leave per occasion (s104) and 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave (s106A). A casual who converts to permanent starts accruing from the conversion date.
Your employer can require evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person, such as a medical certificate or a statutory declaration, and you must tell them as soon as practicable that you are taking the leave and roughly how long (s107). Awards and agreements often say when evidence is needed, for example after two consecutive days.
All checked 8 November 2026. Primary sources first. Not reloaded marks an official page our checker could not load on that date; the statement relies on the Act and earlier checks. Verify marks an indexed figure whose 2026-27 value we could not load.