Part-time work and equal pay

The equal pay provisions of the EA 10 apply to part-time workers, who are also protected by the Part Time Workers (Prevention of Unfavourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 (see page 46). 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). However, claimants must be able to show that they would have joined the pension scheme given the choice. Otherwise they will not be able to demonstrate loss. In Copple v Littlewoods PLC [2012] IRLR 121, although female workers had been excluded from the scheme because of their part-time status, their claim failed because there was no evidence that they would have joined, given the chance.