Part-time workers rights

In the UK, part-time workers have a number of legal protections to make sure they are treated fairly and not less favourably than comparable full-time workers.

The Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 is the key piece of legislation concerning the rights of part-time workers in the UK. Its main objective is to ensure that part-time workers are not treated less favourably than their full-time counterparts unless such treatment can be objectively justified.

Some of the key elements are set out below:

• Part-time workers should receive the same rates of pay as comparable full-time workers (calculated on a pro-rata basis). Part-time workers should also have the same opportunities for career progression and training as their full-time counterparts.

• If a part-time worker believes they are being treated less favourably than a comparable full-time worker, they can ask their employer for a written statement of reasons. A response should be provided within 21 days.

• Part-time employees can bring an employment tribunal claim alleging less favourable treatment when compared to full-time employees. Employers can defend claims if they can show that the treatment was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Tribunals are able to award compensation in these cases which can include loss of earnings but not injury to feelings.

• More women are part-time workers than men. This is a fact that tribunals take judicial notice of – there is generally no requirement to produce statistical evidence. It is therefore possible for part-time female employees to bring any claim for less favourable treatment as an indirect sex discrimination claim rather than one under the part-time workers legislation. This allows female part-time workers to claim injury to feelings as a head of compensation (something which is not available in part-time workers' claims themselves).