Whether it applies depends on the industrial instrument. Many modern awards and enterprise agreements provide it, some employment contracts mirror it, and award-free employees are only entitled to it if their contract says so. Where it applies, it is generally payable on the leave balance paid out at termination too, which is where forgotten loading tends to surface.
The watch-out is inconsistency between the paperwork and the payroll: an award that provides loading, a contract that is silent, and a pay system configured for neither. The fix is unglamorous: know which instrument covers each employee, and keep leave balances and payments in one system of record so the entitlement is calculated, not remembered.
Common questions
What does Leave Loading mean in simple terms?+
Leave loading is an Australian employment entitlement: an extra payment on top of ordinary pay while an employee is on annual leave, most commonly 17.5 percent. It dates from an era when overtime was a large share of take-home pay, and was designed to stop workers being worse off in a holiday week than a working one.
Who is entitled to Leave Loading?+
Whether it applies depends on the industrial instrument. Many modern awards and enterprise agreements provide it, some employment contracts mirror it, and award-free employees are only entitled to it if their contract says so. Where it applies, it is generally payable on the leave balance paid out at termination too, which is where forgotten loading tends to surface.
What goes wrong with Leave Loading?+
The watch-out is inconsistency between the paperwork and the payroll: an award that provides loading, a contract that is silent, and a pay system configured for neither. The fix is unglamorous: know which instrument covers each employee, and keep leave balances and payments in one system of record so the entitlement is calculated, not remembered.