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Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000

Part-time workers have the same employment rights as full-time workers. Less favourable treatment of part-time workers has long been seen as potentially unlawful indirect sex discrimination - more women than men are likely to be affected.

By law you must treat your part-time workers in the same way as comparable full-time workers. A comparable full-time worker is one who works for the same employer and does similar work under the same type of contract.

The regulations cover rights on pay, pensions, training and holidays and extend to homeworkers and agency workers. The regulations include rights for part-timers to have pro-rata terms and conditions including equal:

• rates of pay
• rates of overtime pay - once part-time workers have worked more than the normal full-time hours
• entitlement to company pension schemes and benefits
• access to training and career development
• holiday entitlement
• rights to career breaks
• contractual sick pay, contractual maternity and parental leave and pay rights as offered to full-time staff
• treatment when selecting candidates for promotion, and for redundancy

The Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 came into force on 1st July 2000 . The regulations ensure that part-timers are not treated less favourably in their contractual terms and conditions than comparable full-timers, unless different treatment is justified on objective grounds. Less favourable treatment of a part-timer will be justified on objective grounds if it can be shown that it is necessary and appropriate to achieve a legitimate business objective.

A more detailed guide can be found here.

Disclaimer: This information is believed to be correct at the date of publication, 10 September 2008. However, no liability will be accepted for any action taken based on the information contained in this article. Please see our Terms & Conditions for more information.

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