A recent judgment from the district court establishes that part-time employees may be entitled to overtime pay as soon as they work beyond their agreed percentage of employment, even if they do not exceed ordinary working hours.
The majority held that a common overtime threshold for full-time and part-time employees constitutes unequal treatment under the EU Part-Time Work Directive, because part-time employees must work a larger proportion of their position before overtime is triggered. A general aim of promoting full-time work could not justify giving part-time employees poorer terms than their full-time colleagues. That would render the protection against unequal treatment of part-time employees meaningless. The minority, however, believed that the part-time employee was not subject to discrimination at all.
The judgment strengthens protections for part-time employees, but also makes the use of additional hours more expensive for employers, and could quickly lead to claims for back pay.
The courts have likely not had the last word on this issue, and it therefore remains to be seen how the judgment will affect working life going forward.
