Part-time work and equal pay

The equal pay provisions of the EA 10 apply equally to part-time workers, who are also protected by the Part Time Workers (Prevention of Unfavourable Treatment) Regulations 2002. A pay practice that treats part-time workers less favourably than comparable full-time workers is likely to be indirectly discriminatory against women, because more women than men work part-time. Unless the employer can objectively justify the pay differential or practice, it is likely to be unlawful.

Refusing part-time workers access to a company pension scheme infringes the law on equal pay (Bilka Kaufhaus v Weber von Hartz [1986] IRLR 317).