澳足决赛成假日，风光无限好，代价特别高

上周五是维州第二次因州长 Daniel Andrews 制定的新公众假期而休假的日子，休假原因是澳洲足球总决赛。

商店允许在休假日当天开幕营业，但都必须支付更高额的惩罚津贴与薪水。 除此外只要不是临时雇员，否则即使员工周五当天不上班，雇主也需支付正常工作薪资给员工。

对于临时雇员，新的长假意味着一旦店家不营业或雇主当天不需临时工，他们这周就少了一天的薪资。

大多数人都可快乐享受这新的公众假期，当然，前提是有人要为这个假期买单。 然则现实却是工作难找，而许多企业更为高昂的经营成本而困扰着。

制定全新的公众假期是政府的举手之劳，更是全职雇员乐见的好福利，只是有时这种福利太奢侈，背后的经济成本太高昂，现今许多企业不一定负担的起。 更不应让政府的举手之劳，成为压垮企业经营的最后一根稻草。

英文版/ English version

Grand Final eve holiday costs business, jobs

Last Friday was the second time Victorian businesses were forced to comply with the new public holiday introduced by Premier Andrews for the day before the Australian Football League Grand Final match.

Businesses were allowed to open, but any employee who worked on the holiday must be paid higher, penalty rate, wages. As well, any employee who usually works on a Friday must be paid their ordinary wages even if they didn’t work that day, unless they are a casual employee.

For casual employees, the holiday meant they missed out on a day’s pay if their employer didn’t open that day and didn’t need them to work.

Most people enjoy a holiday if someone else pays for it. However, in times when many businesses are struggling to pay their costs and jobs are hard to find, an extra public holiday is an expensive indulgence we can’t afford.