How does PTO accrual work?
Paid time off (PTO) is a bank of paid hours you can use for vacation, personal days and often sickness. Most employers do not hand it out all at once. You earn, or accrue, it over time in one of three ways:
| Method | How you earn it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Per pay period | A fixed number of hours each paycheck | 4.62 hours every biweekly check |
| Per hour worked | A fraction of an hour for each hour you work | 1 hour of PTO for every 30 hours worked |
| Front-loaded | The full year’s PTO at once, at the start of the year or your work anniversary | 120 hours on January 1 |
The calculator above handles the first two. Choose I get a yearly amount if your offer letter says something like “15 days of PTO,” or I earn per hours worked if your policy states a rate. It shows PTO per paycheck, PTO per year, the accrual rate per hour worked, and the dollar value of your PTO if you enter your hourly pay.
With the default settings, 15 days at 40 hours a week on biweekly pay works out to 120 hours a year, 4.62 hours per paycheck, and $3,000 of paid time at $25 an hour.
How do you calculate PTO per pay period?
PTO per paycheck = yearly PTO hours / pay periods per year
First, turn days into hours. Multiply days by the length of your usual workday. Fifteen 8-hour days is 120 hours. The calculator above uses your weekly hours divided by 5 as the workday, so a 32-hour week makes each PTO day 6.4 hours.
Then divide by your number of paychecks:
| Yearly PTO | Weekly (52) | Biweekly (26) | Semi-monthly (24) | Monthly (12) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 hours (5 days) | 0.77 | 1.54 | 1.67 | 3.33 |
| 80 hours (10 days) | 1.54 | 3.08 | 3.33 | 6.67 |
| 120 hours (15 days) | 2.31 | 4.62 | 5.00 | 10.00 |
| 160 hours (20 days) | 3.08 | 6.15 | 6.67 | 13.33 |
Biweekly and semi-monthly are easy to mix up, and the difference changes your accrual. Our guide to how many pay periods are in a year shows how to tell which one you have.
How long until you earn a full day? Divide the hours in your workday by your accrual per check. At 4.62 hours per biweekly check, an 8-hour day takes about 1.7 paychecks, or a little over 3 weeks.
How do you calculate PTO accrual per hour worked?
Accrual rate = yearly PTO hours / yearly hours worked
A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks is 2,080 hours. With 120 hours of PTO:
- 120 / 2,080 = 0.0577 hours of PTO per hour worked
- 2,080 / 120 = 1 hour of PTO for every 17.33 hours worked
| Yearly PTO at full time | Accrual per hour worked | Hours worked to earn 1 hour |
|---|---|---|
| 40 hours | 0.0192 | 52 |
| 80 hours | 0.0385 | 26 |
| 120 hours | 0.0577 | 17.33 |
| 160 hours | 0.0769 | 13 |
This method is common for hourly and part-time workers because PTO grows with hours. At 0.0577 per hour, someone working 25 hours a week (1,300 hours a year) earns 75 hours of PTO.
Policies written as a ratio work the same way. At 1 hour per 30 hours worked, a 40-hour week earns 2,080 / 30 = 69.33 hours a year, and a 20-hour week earns 34.67 hours. Whether overtime hours count toward accrual is up to your employer’s policy unless a state law says otherwise.
How does front-loaded PTO work?
With front-loading, the full year’s PTO lands in your bank on day one of the plan year. You can take a week off in February instead of waiting months to earn it.
New hires usually get a prorated amount. If the plan year starts January 1 and you are hired July 1, half of a 120-hour annual amount is 60 hours. Illinois, for example, explicitly allows employers to front-load the paid leave its state law requires.
The catch: if you use front-loaded PTO and then leave early, your policy may say what happens to the unearned part. Read it before you book a long trip in your first months.
How much PTO is typical?
No federal law requires paid vacation. The Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or holidays, and calls these benefits a matter of agreement between employer and employee.
Most workers get them anyway. In March 2026, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 80% of private industry workers had access to paid vacation and 81% had paid sick leave. Average paid days rise with service:
| Years of service | Private industry vacation days | State and local government vacation days |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 11 | 13 |
| 5 years | 16 | 16 |
| 10 years | 18 | 19 |
| 20 years | 20 | 22 |
The same survey put average paid sick leave at 7 days a year for private industry workers.
How do PTO carryover and caps work?
Because federal law does not require PTO, your employer’s written policy sets the rules. Three designs are common:
- Carryover cap. You can roll over up to a set number of unused hours into next year, such as 40.
- Accrual cap. You stop earning once your balance hits a ceiling, such as 1.5 times your yearly amount. With 120 hours a year, that would be 180 hours. Use some PTO and accrual starts again.
- Use it or lose it. Unused PTO disappears at the end of the year.
State law can limit these designs. In Illinois, a use-it-or-lose-it vacation policy is allowed only if employees get a reasonable chance to use the time and had notice of the policy, and earned vacation cannot be forfeited when you leave. Washington’s paid sick leave law requires employers to carry over unused balances of up to 40 hours.
Is unused PTO paid out when you leave a job?
There is no federal requirement. It depends on your state and your employer’s policy:
- Illinois: if your employer gives vacation, it must pay the value of all earned, unused vacation when you resign or are fired, and a policy cannot take it away at separation.
- Alaska: vacation pay is owed only if the employer has a policy, promise or contract to pay it. The state enforces the employer’s own rules.
- Paid sick leave is different. Balances under Washington’s paid sick leave law and Illinois’s Paid Leave for All Workers Act generally do not have to be paid out at separation.
Before you give notice, check your handbook, count your balance and ask HR in writing how payout works. Our guide to a two weeks notice letter covers how to time your last day. If you believe you were shorted, your state labor department or an employment attorney can advise you.
PTO vs sick leave: what is the difference?
A PTO bank combines vacation, personal and sick time in one balance. A split system gives you separate vacation and sick balances, each with its own rules.
The Department of Labor says there are currently no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave, but some states require it:
| State | Minimum accrual | Key limits |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 1 hour per 30 hours worked | Up to 56 hours a year; in effect since July 1, 2025 |
| Washington | 1 hour per 40 hours worked | Unused balance of up to 40 hours carries over |
| Illinois | 1 hour per 40 hours worked | Up to 40 hours per 12 months, usable for any reason; front-loading allowed |
In Illinois, an employer that already gives at least 40 hours of paid leave a year usable for any reason, such as PTO, generally does not have to add more. Chicago and Cook County have their own paid leave ordinances.
Is FMLA leave paid?
No. The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for reasons such as a new child or a serious health condition, and your group health coverage continues.
You are eligible if your employer is covered, you have worked there at least 12 months, you have at least 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months before leave, and your employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles of your worksite. Private employers are covered if they have 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or prior year.
Federal rules let you choose to use accrued PTO during FMLA leave so you keep getting paid, under the terms of your employer’s normal leave policy. If you do not, your employer may require it. Either way, the PTO and FMLA time run at the same time.
Does PTO count toward overtime?
Under federal law, no. Pay for vacation, holidays or illness is not pay for hours worked, so it does not push you past 40 hours for overtime. A week with 38 hours worked plus 8 hours of holiday pay is 46 paid hours but no federal overtime, because only 38 hours were worked. See our overtime calculator for how overtime is figured.
Common PTO calculation mistakes
- Using 8-hour days for every schedule. On a 10-hour shift schedule, a PTO day often uses 10 hours, so the same balance covers fewer days off.
- Dividing by 26 on semi-monthly pay. Semi-monthly is 24 checks, so each check earns more.
- Ignoring waiting periods. Many policies, and some laws, delay use. Illinois workers can begin using paid leave under its state law after 90 days.
- Forgetting the cap. If you sit at your accrual cap, every paycheck you skip time off is PTO you never earn.
- Valuing PTO at zero. At $25 an hour, 120 hours of PTO is worth $3,000. Weigh that when you compare job offers or a raise.
PTO rules depend on your employer’s policy, your state and sometimes your city, so treat these examples as general information and confirm the details with HR.