Law Weblog

Part-time workers entitled not to be treated less favourably than full-time workers

Friday 3 March 2006 at 10:00 am | In News | Post Comment

The position of part-time workers was given a boost by the final ruling in Matthews v Kent Fire Authority [2006] HL; part-timers are entitled to the same pension and sick pay rights as their full-time colleagues.

The case involved the work done by 16,000 part-time fire-fighters and was the first time the Lords considered some of the main provisions in the 2000 Part-time Workers Regulations.

The general thrust of the ruling was expressed by Lady Hale who said, “the fact that the full-timers do some extra tasks would not prevent their work being the same or broadly similar . . . weight should be given to the extent to which their work is in fact the same, and to the importance of that work to the enterprise as a whole”. She distinguished workplaces where the role of full-timers was to do the important tasks and part-timers did peripheral work.