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Protection around the clock

18 August 2008

Part time? Make sure your rights aren't with our guide to the law and balancing your life. Part time working has never been so popular. Whether it's to fit in with childcare responsibilities, care for an elderly or sick relative or take part in further education, more and more people are opting to vary their working patterns.

And nowhere is this truer than in the civil service where the number of people working part time has rocketed in recent years. Twice as many civil servants work part time now compared to 10 years ago and more than nine in 10 of them are women.

But working part time should not mean part time rights and PCS is committed to ensuring that part timers get a fair deal at work.

Working conditions and pay

If you are working part time, the law says you shouldn’t be treated any less favourably than your full time colleagues. You are covered regardless of the hours you work, whether your contract is permanent or temporary, and from your first day in the job.

One of the most frequent complaints part timers make is that they do not qualify for an additional overtime payment if they work beyond their contracted hours. Although the law does not require employers to pay overtime rates until a part timer has worked the equivalent of a full time week, they do have to pay a premium or unsocial hours payment where this is paid to full time staff (such as weekend working, for example).

The law also says you are entitled to a minimum of 24 days leave and a break of at least 20 minutes a day if you work more than six hours.

Bank holidays can also cause difficulties for part timers who may lose out on what are known as privilege days. This is because a lot of part timers do not work Mondays which is when most bank holidays fall.

Although your employer is not obliged to compensate you for missed bank holidays, good bosses will try to introduce measures that are fairer. This is something our PCS representatives may well have been involved in negotiating in your workplace.

In the civil service, research has shown that some staff receive lower appraisal box markings simply because they work part time. This may be because of unrealistic target setting, assumptions about commitment or because part time work is seen as being of low value. PCS is challenging unfair appraisal markings and calling on employers to audit their pay and appraisal systems to ensure that part timers get equal treatment.

One of the positive benefits the law provides is the requirement that part time staff should have the same access to training as full time staff. If you are a part time worker and you feel you are unable to attend training events because of your working pattern, take the issue up with your PCS representative who should be able to advise you.

If you are required to attend training events outside your normal working hours your employer should pay you for those hours and provide assistance in meeting any additional childcare costs you may incur.

Want to work part time? Check out your rights

There is no absolute right to be allowed to reduce your hours or to work part time but if you are the parent of a child under six, a disabled child under 18 or care for a disabled adult you have the right to ask your employer if you can have a more flexible working pattern. The government is currently considering extending this right to parents of older children.

If you are a woman you may have a claim for indirect sex discrimination if your employer is unreasonable in requiring you to work full time. Men may also be able to claim if part time working opportunities are only open to women. If you are disabled then altering your working hours may be considered a reasonable adjustment to allow you to continue to work.

Your PCS representative can offer advice on all these rights.

Pro rata – what does this mean?

Most of your contractual terms will be ‘pro rata’ to the hours you work. For example, if you work 24 hours a week and your full-time colleagues doing the same work are on 40 hours you will get 24/40ths (3/5ths) of their entitlement. Your weekly pay should also be 3/5ths of theirs, as should your employer’s contributions into your pension.

Our annual conference has agreed to survey members on their experiences of part time working. If you would like to share your views contact Pat Campbell on patc@pcs.org.uk or write to our letters pages.

Emma’s story

After the birth of Emma’s second child she decided to ask her boss if she could work part time to help balance her work and family life. At first he was reluctant, arguing that the reduction in hours would make things difficult for the organisation, but Emma was determined and asked her PCS rep for advice.

“My rep suggested writing to my manager outlining my reasons for wanting to cut my hours and suggesting potential benefits to the organisation. I decided to give it a try and also met with him and my rep to go over how the arrangement would work. In the end we agreed to trial it for six months. That was three years ago and things have worked out really well, both for me and my employer.

“My advice to other PCS members is not to accept a first refusal, get your union rep involved and know your rights.”
 

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