Zero-hours contracts and the Part-time Workers Regulations

Workers on zero-hours contracts qualify as part-time workers under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 (PTWR). The regulations define a part-time worker as any worker whose hours are less than those of a full-time worker. They give part-time workers the right to be treated no less favourably than a comparable full-time worker with the same employer. This includes the right to the same contractual benefits such as holiday and wages, pro-rated to the hours worked, and the right not to be subjected to any detriment. There is a defence to a claim under the PTWR if an employer can show that the less favourable treatment is justified on objective grounds.

In Heinmann v Kaiser GmbH [2013] IRLR 48, the European Court said that a zero-hours contract worker’s right to benefits such as sick pay and holiday pay should be pro-rated in proportion to the hours they are obliged to work.