What is a part-time worker?
A part-time worker is someone who works fewer hours than a full-time worker. There's no specific number of hours that makes someone full or part-time, but a full-time worker will usually work 35 hours or more a week.
According to the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations, part-timers must be treated at least as well as equivalent full-time workers, unless the reason why not can be objectively justified. An 'equivalent' full-time worker is one doing a similar job on the same type of contract.
The regulations include temporary staff such as agency and casual workers but part time agency workers can't compare themselves to full time permanent workers. The regulations don't stop employers giving better terms to part-timers, perhaps to encourage a more balanced workforce, but the employer will need to be sure that doing this is not against other discrimination laws.
Examples of how the regulations workThe regulations often mean that benefits must be 'pro-rata'. This means that they should be in proportion to your hours, so for example if a full-time worker gets a £1000 bonus, a part-time worker working half the number of hours should get £500.
Below are some examples of issues affected by the regulations. Remember that your employer can treat part timers less favourably (that is, they can break the rules set out below) If this is 'objectively justified' - what 'objectively justified' means is explained later.
Rates of pay
Part-time workers must get at least the same hourly pay rate as a full-timer doing a similar job.
If you're a part-timer, your employer can set the same hours threshold for enhanced overtime pay as for full timers, so you might not get overtime pay until you've worked more than the normal hours of a full-time worker.
Pension opportunities and benefits
Employers should not discriminate between full-time and part-time workers over access to pension schemes. Other company benefits (such as company cars, employee discounts, and health insurance) should be given pro rata if possible. If this is not possible then your employer will have to decide whether or not to offer the benefit to everybody.
Training and career development
Part-time workers mustn't be excluded from training and career development opportunities. Wherever possible, training must be organised at times that suit most workers, including part-timers.
Holidays
All workers have the right to a minimum amount of annual holiday. From 1 October 2007 the statutory minimum entitlement is 4.8 weeks holiday a year, based on your normal working week. For example, if you work:
- 20 hours a week, your statutory holiday entitlement is 4.8 20-hour weeks
- three days each week, you have the right to 14.4 days' holiday - that's 4.8 weeks of three days each
Many employers give more than the statutory minimum amount of holiday. Under the regulations part-timers should be treated no less favourably; this normally means that a part time worker will get a pro rata proportion of what the full-time workers get.
Your employer can't round down the number of days given, because this would be unfavourable treatment, but fractions of a day might be given as hours.
Your employer can control when you take your holiday so they can make you take bank holidays from this entitlement when they coincide with your working days.
What 'objectively justified' means
The rules set out above can be broken where there is objective justification for doing so. This means that the employer has to show that the reason is necessary, and the right way to meet a genuine aim of the business. Part-time workers can't be treated less favourably just because they are part-time.
It may not be possible to pro-rate some benefits to part-timers (for example, complementary health-club membership). In this situation your employer would have to decide either to give the benefit to both full and part time staff or (if there was objective justification - for example if the costs outweigh the benefit) not to give part time workers the benefit.
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