How to Calculate Annual Leave When Working Multiple Jobs in Australia

Published: January 2026 | Reading time: 9 minutes

In today's evolving employment landscape, working multiple jobs has become increasingly common for Australians. Whether you're balancing two part-time positions, combining a primary job with casual work, or building a portfolio career, understanding how annual leave works across multiple employers is essential for effective financial and lifestyle planning. The good news is that your leave entitlements remain protected under Australian employment law, though managing them requires careful attention.

This comprehensive guide explains how annual leave accrues and is managed when you hold more than one job simultaneously. We'll cover the rules for different employment combinations, practical strategies for coordinating time off, and important considerations to keep in mind when juggling multiple roles.

Understanding Separate Employer Obligations

The fundamental principle to understand is that each employer relationship is entirely separate under Australian employment law. Your annual leave entitlements with Employer A have no connection to your entitlements with Employer B. Each employer is independently responsible for providing you with the leave entitlements specified under the Fair Work Act, the relevant modern award, and your employment contract.

This means if you work part-time for two different organizations, you'll accrue annual leave separately with each employer based on the hours you work for them. Neither employer can reduce your entitlements because you work elsewhere, nor can they require you to take leave simultaneously unless your employment contracts specifically address secondary employment. Your leave balances, accrual rates, and payment calculations are completely independent calculations for each position.

The practical implication is that you need to track your leave separately for each job. Use our annual leave calculator to calculate your entitlements for each position individually, then combine the results to understand your total leave situation.

Calculating Leave for Multiple Part-Time Positions

When you hold two or more part-time permanent positions, you accrue annual leave proportionally with each employer. The standard entitlement of four weeks per year is calculated based on your ordinary hours with each employer. Let's work through a practical example to illustrate this.

Suppose you work 20 hours per week with Employer A and 15 hours per week with Employer B. With Employer A, you would accrue annual leave at approximately 2.1 hours per week (based on the pro-rata calculation of 20/38 of the full-time accrual rate). Over a full year, this amounts to roughly 80 hours or two weeks of leave at 20 hours per week. Similarly, with Employer B, you'd accrue approximately 1.5 hours per week, totaling about 60 hours or two weeks of leave at 15 hours per week annually.

Combined, you'd have approximately four weeks of total annual leave across both positions, equivalent to what a single full-time position would provide. However, the key difference is that these leave balances sit with different employers and must be requested and managed separately. You can't use leave accrued with Employer A to take time off from Employer B.

Combining Permanent and Casual Work

A common employment pattern involves holding a permanent part-time position alongside casual work. In this scenario, only the permanent position attracts annual leave entitlements. Casual employees do not accrue annual leave regardless of how many hours they work or how long they've held the position.

The casual loading, typically 25% above the base rate, is designed to compensate for the lack of leave entitlements and other permanent employment benefits. This means when you take annual leave from your permanent position, you won't receive any corresponding time off or payment from your casual role. You can continue working casually during your permanent leave, though this may defeat the purpose of taking time off for rest and recreation.

If you're primarily relying on casual work and want to ensure you have annual leave entitlements, consider exploring casual conversion rights. Under the Fair Work Act, casual employees who have worked regular patterns of hours for 12 months or more may be eligible to request conversion to permanent employment. This would then provide access to annual leave accrual going forward.

Coordinating Leave Across Multiple Employers

One of the biggest practical challenges of working multiple jobs is coordinating time off. To take a genuine holiday, you typically need to arrange leave from all your positions simultaneously. This requires careful planning and communication with all your employers.

Start by understanding each employer's leave request procedures and notice requirements. Some organizations require leave requests months in advance, while others are more flexible. If your jobs have different requirements, plan around the most restrictive timeframe. Submit your leave requests to all employers as simultaneously as possible to reduce the risk of one approving and another declining.

Be mindful of how each employer's busy periods might affect leave approvals. If both positions have peak seasons at the same time, securing leave during those periods could be difficult from both employers. Flexibility in your preferred leave dates significantly increases the likelihood of all employers approving your requests.

Consider whether you need to disclose your multiple employment situation to your employers. Many employment contracts contain secondary employment clauses that may require you to notify your employer or seek approval for additional work. Failing to comply with these clauses could create complications, though they cannot override your fundamental leave entitlements.

Financial Planning and Leave Payments

Managing finances during leave periods requires extra planning when you have multiple income sources. Your leave payments from each employer will reflect only the hours and rates for that position. If you're accustomed to receiving combined income from multiple sources, your leave period income may feel lower unless you take leave from all positions simultaneously.

Before taking extended leave, calculate the total leave payment you'll receive from each employer. Consider whether you have sufficient accrued leave with each position to cover the period you want to take off. If your leave balances are uneven, you might need to continue working one job while taking leave from another, or accept reduced income for part of your break.

Tax implications can also be more complex with multiple employers. Each employer calculates PAYG withholding based on their payments to you, which can result in under-withholding when you have multiple income sources. Large leave payouts might push you into different tax brackets. Consider consulting a tax professional to understand your specific situation and avoid surprises at tax time.

Conclusion

Working multiple jobs doesn't diminish your annual leave rights, but it does require more proactive management than a single employment arrangement. By understanding that each employer operates independently, keeping careful records of your leave balances with each position, and planning leave requests strategically, you can ensure you receive and enjoy your full entitlements.

Regularly review your leave balances with all employers and don't let them accumulate excessively with any single position. Remember that unused leave represents not only a financial entitlement but also important time for rest and recovery. Use our free annual leave calculator to track your entitlements with each employer and plan your next break with confidence.