带薪年假

澳大利亚的带薪年假，一般是工资的17.5%。工会的说法是：因为你休年假了，失去了加班的机会，作为补偿，要外加17.5%的报酬。

The 17.5% leave loading is a wonderful historic legacy from the glory days of the Labour movement actually being a potent force in Australia. The theory is this: when you are on holiday, you don't have the opportunity to work overtime, or do other things that might give you a bit extra in your pay packet each week. Ergo, the 17.5% extra represents the extra earnings that you didn't get the chance to earn. Of course, for people who work in most salaried jobs, there isn't any overtime anyway, so the whole thing is faintly bizzare. As to how much you get, think of it this way. Count up the days you have had by way of rec leave. Multiply that number by your daily net wage. Your leave loading is 17.5% of this amount. Assuming, of course that you haven't been getting the loading on the leave that you have already taken and this just relates to the Xmas period.