Standard NES entitlement: 4 weeks/year, 2.923 hours/week on a 38-hour week.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA • ANNUAL LEAVE TOOL

Annual Leave Calculator SA

Calculate your annual leave balance in hours, weeks and days based on your service period, ordinary working hours, working pattern and leave already taken.

Calculate Your Leave Balance

Enter your service dates, ordinary weekly hours, working days and any leave already taken to calculate your estimated annual leave balance.

The annual leave formula below is the same nationally under the NES — this just tailors the page to your state.
Casual employees are generally not entitled to paid annual leave under the NES — they receive casual loading instead.
The date you want the balance calculated up to.
Enter your ordinary weekly hours.
Used to convert leave hours into your actual working days.
Any paid annual leave already used during this service period. Leave as 0 if none.
Estimated Leave Balance
0.00 hours
Balance in Weeks 0.00
Balance in Days 0.00
Average Accrual / Week 0.00
Service Period 0 days
4 Weeks Per Year The calculator uses four weeks of annual leave for each completed service year.
Your Working Pattern Enter your actual days worked per week to convert leave hours into leave days.
Leap Years Partial service periods use the actual number of days between service anniversaries. If the service year includes February 29, the calculation automatically accounts for the extra day.
How the calculation works: Completed service years receive exactly four weeks of entitlement. A partial service year is prorated using the actual number of elapsed days between the current service anniversary and the next anniversary, then any leave already taken is subtracted to give your remaining balance. This automatically accounts for leap years.

Long Service Leave in South Australia

Under the Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA), SA has one of the most generous entitlements in the country:

  • 13 weeks of paid LSL after 10 years of continuous service
  • An additional 1.3 weeks for every subsequent year (not just every 5 years — SA accrues yearly after the first 10)
  • Pro-rata after 7 years in most circumstances
  • Employees with 10+ years' service can cash out LSL by agreement with their employer

Curious how this compares? See NT's matching 13-week LSL, ACT's 7-year rule, or WA's entitlement.

Public Holidays in South Australia

SA observes the national holidays plus its own, including the Adelaide Cup public holiday (March) and Proclamation Day (December 26, in place of Boxing Day). Confirm exact dates via SafeWork SA.

FAQs

How generous is SA's long service leave? 

13 weeks after 10 years — matched only by the Northern Territory. 

Does SA LSL accrue every year or every 5 years after 10? 

Every year — 1.3 weeks per additional year, unlike NSW/QLD/WA which add leave in 5-year blocks. 

Can I cash out my long service leave in SA? 

Yes, by agreement, once you've reached 10+ years.

Lucas Gibney

Lucas Gibney

I build simple, accurate tools to help Australian employees understand their workplace entitlements — starting with annual leave. I created this calculator after noticing how often people got confused about their leave balance, especially with pro-rata calculations, casual loading, and the small differences between states and awards. Every calculation here is based on the real NES formula from the Fair Work Act, not a rough guess. My focus is on keeping these tools accurate, easy to use, and genuinely useful — so you can check your entitlements in seconds.