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

The Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 introduced new rights for part-time workers.

The regulations ensure that part-time workers are not treated less favourably in their contractual terms and conditions than comparable full-timer workers unless it is objectively justified.

This means part-timer workers are entitled, for example, to:

The same hourly rate of pay
The same access to company pension schemes
The same entitlements to annual leave and maternity/parental leave on a pro rata basis
The same entitlement to contractual sick pay
No less favourable treatment in access to training.

In order to show less favourable treatment, a part-time worker will have to identify a full-time worker working for the same employer who is treated more favourably than him or her.

Alternatively, a worker who moves from full to part-time work can draw comparisons with his or her previous treatment.

Though more men are taking up part-time work, the majority of part-time work is still undertaken by women. Employers should as a matter of course treat part-time employees in the same way as full time employees, subject to pay and benefits being provided pro rata, in order to minimise the potential for indirect sex discrimination.

What action should be taken where a part-time employee feels they are being treated unfairly?

A part-time employee has the right to ask their employer for a written statement setting out the reasons for less favourable treatment if they believe this may have occurred.

The employer must provide this statement within 21 days.

All part-time employees who feel that they have been unfairly treated can present a complaint to an Employment Tribunal.

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Reviewed and updated by the HR Services Partnership – April 2010.

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