Many still not complying with part time regulations

Businesses not giving part-time workers the same hourly rate of pay, holiday entitlement, or access to company pension schemes risk crippling compensation claims of over £50,000

The start of the new university term this week, will see large numbers of students looking for part-time work, however, many small businesses are still not complying with updated regulations on part-time working.

According to Associa Employment Service, those businesses not giving part-time workers the same hourly rate of pay, holiday entitlement and even access to company pension schemes can risk crippling compensation claims of over £50,000.

Mark Thompson, legal team leader at Associa said: “In most cases, part-time workers cannot be treated any differently than full-time staff on key terms and conditions, such as holiday allowances, pension arrangements, redundancy payments and the right to claim unfair dismissal.

“Tribunals are becoming increasingly alive to the claims of part-time workers. The recent case, Hendrickson Europe Ltd v Christine Pipe, awarded over £50,000 compensation to a part-time worker who was made redundant because she worked part-time and the organisation needed to restructure its workforce.

“Pub landlords and retailers could be most at risk, as these businesses are most likely to take on part-time staff to cover busy periods.”

Part-time working regulations which are least well known amongst small businesses include:

• the obligation to offer part-time workers the same access to share options
• the need to give equal consideration to part-timers as full-timers when re-organising working hours
• the need to open up company pension schemes to part-time staff.

The Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 introduced new rights for part-time workers. The regulations state that Britain’s part-time workers are entitled 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, and no less favourable treatment in access to training

[source: http://www.hrgateway.co.uk]

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