Annual leave is paid holiday time that all employees (excluding casuals, pieceworkers, school-based apprentices or trainees) receive for each completed year of employment.
Annual leave may also be commonly known as recreation leave or vacation leave.
Since the commencement of the Industrial Relations Act 1999 (PDF, 1.9MB) on 1 July 1999 all employees in Queensland (excluding casuals, pieceworkers and school-based apprentices or trainees) are entitled to annual leave. Before the commencement of the Act annual leave was an entitlement only within awards and agreements or an entitlement negotiated between employers and employees.
From 1 July 1999 employees whose employment is not covered by an award or agreement began to accumulate annual leave in accordance with the Act. Employees who had negotiated an entitlement prior to 1 July 1999 retain that entitlement, and gain an entitlement under the Act from 1 July 1999.
Under the Act an employee receives a minimum of four weeks annual leave for each full year of employment. Shift workers who actually work a roster that provides for three shifts per day over seven days a week receive a minimum of five weeks per year.
Some awards and agreements provide for a greater period of leave. Employees covered by such awards or agreements are entitled to the amount of annual leave as specified in the award or agreement.
All annual leave owing is payable on termination, except where the employee is transferred from one employer to another. If an employee has not taken all annual leave they are entitled to at the time of termination they are presumed to have taken their leave from the date of termination.
Annual leave is exclusive of public holidays. Therefore any public holidays falling within a period of annual leave must be added to the leave.
In some awards and agreements additional annual leave has been granted as compensation for not receiving penalty rates for work on specified public holidays. In these awards and agreements no extra paid days off must be added to a period of annual leave within which one of those specified public holidays have occurred.
Pro rata holiday pay is the monetary equivalent of annual leave accumulated for any period of less than one year. Pro rata holiday pay is payable only on termination of employment. Similarly to annual leave, pro rata holiday pay is payable to all employees other than casuals, pieceworkers and school based apprentices or trainees. View our resource page on how to calculate pro rata holiday pay.
An employer does not have the authority to instruct that an employee take annual leave during a notice of termination period. Annual leave cannot be counted as or form part of a notice period. Notice can be given by the employer whilst the employee is on annual leave, however the notice will not commence until the employee returns to work after taking the annual leave.
In a situation where notice has been given and this notice extends into an annual leave period the notice will cease while the employee is on annual leave and recommence when the annual leave concludes.
Alternatively an employee is entitled to give notice whilst on annual leave provided that an industrial instrument 
has no provision in relation to notice forming part of the annual leave. If the required notice is in excess of the period of annual leave, the employee may lose part payment in lieu of the appropriate notice not being given or return to work for the balance of the notice to which the employer is entitled.
From 1 September 2005 the Act was amended to protect certain employees entitlement to 17.5% leave loading . Generally employees and workers annual leave will be unaffected unless they are covered by:
This amendment will not apply to the above awards or agreements where they provide otherwise. Additionally the amendment does not apply to employees whose employment is award free.
Wageline's fact sheet on annual leave:
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© The State of Queensland (Department of Employment and Industrial Relations) 2006
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