A group of lecturers have succeeded with their claim that they were discriminated against by Manchester City Council because they only worked part time.

The lecturers were guaranteed a certain number of hours each year working for the council’s Adult Education Service. When those hours were reduced they brought a claim under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. They argued that they had been treated less favourably than full time employees whose hours could not be reduced in the same way.

The council said the reason for the less favourable treatment was not because they were part time workers but because the terms of their contracts permitted flexibility. That flexibility was not part of the contract terms relating to full time employees. It was therefore the terms of the contract that made the difference rather than whether or not the lecturers worked part time.

The tribunal ruled in the council’s favour but that was then overturned by the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) which said that the council’s reasoning was completely artificial.

The EAT ruled that the protection offered by the Regulations to part time workers would be completely undermined if employers could argue that they were being treated differently because of the terms of their contract rather than because of the number of hours they worked. The ruling specified that once it is established that a part time worker is treated less favourably and the fact that he is part time is one of the reasons for the less favourable treatment then the Regulations are triggered and will apply.

The case has now been referred back to the employment tribunal to see how the issue should be remedied.