How holiday pay is calculated, by country
Statutes answer the holiday-pay question in three different ways. Germany and Austria pay what the employee would normally earn, Germany averaging the last 13 weeks and leaving overtime out, while Japan lets the work rules choose between average and normal pay. France, Sweden, Norway and Canada instead tie the pay to a share of what was earned, from 4% of annual wages in Canada to 10.2% in Norway and a tenth of gross pay in France. Australia and the Netherlands only say that ordinary pay carries on during the leave. Austria and Norway allow a collective agreement to change the method.
Scope of this guide
Canada: the Canada Labour Code (federal sector) and the Ontario statutes that LawAsked has loaded. Other provinces are not compared.
| Country | How holiday pay is set | What is counted or left out |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | The regular pay the employee would have received had the leave not been taken | Piece-rate and performance-based pay: average of the last 13 fully worked weeks |
| Australia | Base rate of pay for the employee’s ordinary hours in the leave period | |
| Canada | 4% of wages in the year; 6% after five consecutive years; 8% after ten | Vacation pay is treated as wages for all purposes |
| Germany | Average earnings of the 13 weeks before the leave begins | Extra pay for overtime is left out; lasting pay rises are counted; short-time work and lost shifts do not lower the average |
| France | One tenth of gross pay in the reference period, or the pay the employee would have received by working, if higher | Counts last year’s leave pay and periods treated as work time; sick leave not from work counts at 80% |
| Japan | Average wage, or the normal wage for scheduled hours, as set in the work rules; or one thirtieth of the standard monthly remuneration if a workforce agreement says so | |
| Netherlands | The employee keeps the right to wages during the holiday | Holiday vouchers from a fund count as wages where a collective agreement allows them |
| Norway | 10.2% of the pay base earned in the previous year | Pay actually paid in the earning year counts; the pay base is capped at 6 times the National Insurance basic amount |
| Sweden | Current weekly or monthly pay plus a holiday supplement (same-pay rule), or 12% of pay earned in the earning year (percentage rule) | Variable pay: 12% of the variable pay due during the leave year under the same-pay rule |
Country by country
Austria
- Rule
- Urlaubsgesetz § 6
- Applies to employees covered by the Urlaubsgesetz. A collective agreement may regulate which employer benefits count as holiday pay and may set a different calculation method.
- The section does not say whether overtime is part of the regular pay, so this guide does not state it.
Regelmäßiges Entgelt ist jenes Entgelt, das dem Arbeitnehmer gebührt hätte, wenn der Urlaub nicht angetreten worden wäre.ist das Urlaubsentgelt nach dem Durchschnitt der letzten dreizehn voll gearbeiteten Wochen unter Ausscheidung nur ausnahmsweise geleisteter Arbeiten zu berechnen.Die Berechnungsart für die Regelung der Höhe des Urlaubsentgeltes kann durch Kollektivvertrag abweichend von Abs. 3 und 4 geregelt werden. Australia
- Rule
- Fair Work Act 2009 s 90
- Part of the National Employment Standards. The section names the base rate for ordinary hours; it does not say how overtime, penalty rates or loadings are treated, so this guide does not state it.
- On termination the employer pays out untaken leave at the amount that would have been payable had the leave been taken.
the employer must pay the employee at the employee’s base rate of pay for the employee’s ordinary hours of work in the period.the employer must pay the employee the amount that would have been payable to the employee had the employee taken that period of leave. Canada
- Rule
- Canada Labour Code ss 184.01, 186
- Federal sector only (Canada Labour Code). The percentage rises with consecutive years with the same employer.
- Ontario provincial rules are not part of this row.
4% of their wages during the year of employment in respect of which they are entitled to the vacation6% of their wages during the year of employment in respect of which they are entitled to the vacation, if they have completed at least five consecutive years of employment with the same employer8% of their wages during the year of employment in respect of which they are entitled to the vacation, if they have completed at least 10 consecutive years of employment with the same employer Vacation pay shall for all purposes be deemed to be wages. Germany
- Rule
- Bundesurlaubsgesetz § 11
- Applies to employees covered by the Bundesurlaubsgesetz. Holiday pay is paid out before the leave starts.
- In-kind benefits that stop during the leave are paid in cash for its length.
Das Urlaubsentgelt bemißt sich nach dem durchschnittlichen Arbeitsverdienst, das der Arbeitnehmer in den letzten dreizehn Wochen vor dem Beginn des Urlaubs erhalten hat, mit Ausnahme des zusätzlich für Überstunden gezahlten Arbeitsverdienstes.Bei Verdiensterhöhungen nicht nur vorübergehender Natur, die während des Berechnungszeitraums oder des Urlaubs eintreten, ist von dem erhöhten Verdienst auszugehen.Verdienstkürzungen, die im Berechnungszeitraum infolge von Kurzarbeit, Arbeitsausfällen oder unverschuldeter Arbeitsversäumnis eintreten, bleiben für die Berechnung des Urlaubsentgelts außer Betracht.Das Urlaubsentgelt ist vor Antritt des Urlaubs auszuzahlen. France
- Rule
- Code du travail art. L3141-24
- Applies to employees covered by the Code du travail. The statute applies whichever method gives the employee more.
- The 80% figure is for periods of non-work-related illness treated as work time under L3141-5 7°.
ouvre droit à une indemnité égale au dixième de la rémunération brute totale perçue par le salarié au cours de la période de référence.1° De l'indemnité de congé de l'année précédentedans la limite d'une prise en compte à 80 % de la rémunération associée à ces périodes.l'indemnité prévue au I du présent article ne peut être inférieure au montant de la rémunération qui aurait été perçue pendant la période de congé si le salarié avait continué à travailler. Japan
- Rule
- 労働基準法 第三十九条
- Applies to workers entitled to paid leave under Article 39. The employer chooses the method in the work rules or similar rules.
- The statute does not say how overtime is treated, so this guide does not state it.
平均賃金若しくは所定労働時間労働した場合に支払われる通常の賃金又はこれらの額を基準として厚生労働省令で定めるところにより算定した額の賃金を支払わなければならない標準報酬月額の三十分の一に相当する金額 Netherlands
- Rule
- BW 7 art. 639
- Applies to employees under an employment contract. The article states that wages continue but does not set a formula, so this guide gives none.
1 De werknemer behoudt gedurende zijn vakantie recht op loon.Voor de toepassing van dit artikel worden vakantiebonnen als loon beschouwd. Norway
- Rule
- Ferieloven § 10
- Applies to employees covered by the Ferieloven. A collective agreement may depart from these rules on calculation.
- Employees over 60 with the right to an extra week get a rate 2.3 percentage points higher.
Feriepenger fra arbeidsgiver beregnes på grunnlag av arbeidsvederlag som er utbetalt i opptjeningsåret.Arbeidstaker har rett til feriepenger fra arbeidsgiver med 10,2 prosent av feriepengegrunnlagetforhøyes prosentsatsen med 2,3 prosentpoengikke for den del av feriepengegrunnlaget som overstiger 6 ganger folketrygdens grunnbeløpkan fravikes ved tariffavtale Sweden
- Rule
- Semesterlag 16, 16 a, 16 b §§
- Applies to employees covered by the Semesterlag. Employees with weekly or monthly pay get the same-pay rule unless the employer chooses the percentage rule; the percentage rule applies to other pay arrangements, such as pay with a variable part of at least ten percent.
Semesterlön för en arbetstagare som har lön bestämd per vecka eller månad beräknas enligt 16 a §, om inte annat framgår av andra stycket eller arbetsgivaren väljer att beräkna semesterlönen enligt 16 b §. Semesterlön enligt sammalöneregeln är den vid semestertillfället aktuella vecko- eller månadslönen, eventuella fasta lönetillägg samt ett semestertillägg.Har arbetstagaren även rörliga lönedelar är semesterlönen för dessa lönedelar tolv procent av arbetstagarens sammanlagda förfallna rörliga lön under semesteråret. Semesterlön enligt procentregeln utgör tolv procent av arbetstagarens förfallna lön i en anställning under intjänandeåret. Countries not in this table yet
The United States and the United Kingdom are missing: the federal statutes loaded for the US (FLSA, FMLA) and the Employment Rights Act 1996 do not set holiday pay, and the UK Working Time Regulations are not loaded. Spain is left out because article 38 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores says only that annual leave is paid and gives no calculation.
How this table was built
Every row is taken from the official, consolidated text of the statute, which LawAsked loads from each government’s legislation service.
Each figure is tied to a passage quoted word for word from that text. When the page is served, it checks that every quoted passage is still in the current text of a law that is in force; if a law is amended and its wording changes, that row is hidden until a person reviews it again.
The table shows the statutory minimum only. Collective agreements, awards and individual contracts often give more than the statute, and some countries let a collective agreement set different terms.
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How to cite this page
LawAsked, “How holiday pay is calculated, by country”, https://lawasked.com/guides/holiday-pay-calculation (reviewed October 25, 2026).
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