Full time jobs

How many hours is a full-time job?

Determining how many hours constitute full-time labor may be useful for both workers and employers in determining their respective rights and duties at work. The following tutorial examines how to determine how many hours are full time vs part time employees, and how this affects workers' rights and benefits.

What is the difference between full-time and part-time work?

There is no fixed formula for determining what constitutes full-time or part-time employment, and there is no legal minimum or maximum number of hours required before someone is designated a full-time or part-time worker. Instead, the legislation establishes a rather ambiguous definition of what constitutes a full or part-time worker depending on local tradition and practice.

The Part-time Workers (Prevention of Unfavorable Treatment) Regulations 2000, in particular, provide that a person is a full-time worker if:

"...s/he is paid entirely or partially on the basis of the time s/he works and, having respect to the employer's custom and practice in relation to employees hired by the worker's employer under the same kind of contract, is recognized as a full-time worker."

The 2000 Regulations go on to state that a worker is classified as part-time if:

"...if s/he is paid entirely or partially by reference to the time s/he works and is not recognizable as a full-time worker, having respect to the employer's custom and practice in relation to employees employed by the worker's employer under the same kind of contract."

In reality, this often implies that a full-time worker is someone who works a certain number of contracted hours for their specific sort of job, depending on the company's or organization's conventional working norms.

Despite the fact that many individuals regard anything between 35 and 40 hours to be a full time working week, the amount of hours a person is required to work as a full time worker varies based on their company. In some circumstances, it is less; in others, it may be greater.

There is no legally mandated amount of hours for full-time work; instead, individual companies choose how many hours per week are to be deemed full-time. The hours that employees are required to work are normally specified in the company's working hours policy and/or in individual employment contracts.

As a result, a part-time worker is someone who works less contracted hours than a full-time worker for the same sort of employment and environment. This might be when someone works fewer than 35 hours per week, for example.

What are the rights of full-time employees vs part-time employees?

Whether a person works full-time or part-time, two individuals doing the same or comparable job under the same sort of employment contract with the same employer shall not be treated less favorably than the other. In fact, the law specifically prevents part-time employees from being treated less favorably than full-time workers just because they work part-time.

This could include treatment in relation to pay rates and bonuses, as well as sick pay, maternity, paternity, and adoption leave and pay; holiday entitlement; training and career development; promotion and transfer selection, redundancy selection; opportunities for career breaks; and occupational pension opportunities and benefits.

This implies that the contractual conditions for full-time employees and their part-time counterparts should be roughly similar – but in an equal proportion to the number of hours worked by a part-time employee, using the pro rata concept where applicable.

When applying the pro rata principle to the contractual benefits received by part-time workers (ie; in proportion to the hours worked), a part-time worker should not receive less than the proportion of that pay or benefit that the number of his or her weekly hours bears to the number of weekly hours of the comparable full-time worker doing the same or similar type of work.

For example, if a full-time employee receives a £500 Christmas bonus, a part-time employee working half the amount of hours should get £250.

When comparing the rights of a part-time worker to those of a full-time worker, a genuine rather than a hypothetical comparator, i.e. someone employed by the same company, must be used. However, if a full-time employee's hours have been reduced to part-time, they may compare their new part-time terms and conditions to their former full-time contractual rights.

Can it ever be appropriate to treat part-time employees less favorably?

The right of a part-time worker not to be treated less favorably than a full-time worker applies only if the less favorable treatment is based solely on the fact that the worker is part-time, 'and' the treatment cannot be justified objectively.

As a result, there may be limited instances in which an employer may demonstrate a compelling cause for not treating a part-time employee the same as a full-time employee. This implies that if the employer can demonstrate that the reason for the variation in treatment is required to accomplish a legitimate goal, and that this is the most suitable and proportional manner to address a real business necessity, the standard protection granted to part-time employees will not apply.

An example of objective justification is when a part-time worker is denied complementary health-club membership because it is not feasible to prorate this benefit and the expenses of offering free membership in full are disproportionate to the advantages to which part-timers are entitled. This form of rationale might likewise be used to provide health insurance coverage. In any situation, the employer should investigate any possible option, such as asking part-time employees to contribute to the cost.

In particular, the legislation states that a part-time worker paid at a lower rate for overtime worked would not be treated less favorably than any equivalent full-time worker in instances where they are needed to work the same amount of hours before being entitled to an increased rate. This implies that part-time employees may not be eligible for overtime compensation until they have worked more hours than a full-time employee, as determined by custom and practice in the workplace.

How is full-time or part-time status determined?

When someone is recruited for a job, they are generally informed of their employment status and eligibility for contractual benefits depending on whether they will be working full-time or part-time. What constitutes full-time employment will be determined by the individual employer based on the tradition and practice of their firm or organization.

If someone is classified as working part-time and is treated unfairly as a result, they have a statutory right to a written explanation from their employer upon request. The employer has 21 days to reply to such a request.

If the part-time employee is not convinced that the explanation supplied was objectively justifiable, they may be entitled to file a claim with an employment tribunal.

What is the maximum number of hours a worker may work each week?

A worker cannot work more than 48 hours per week on average unless they choose to work extra hours, known as 'opting out,' or they conduct a job not covered by the Working Time Regulations 1998. Working hours are also restricted for those under the age of 18, who cannot work more than 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.

When computing an individual's average weekly working hours over the age of 18, divide the total hours worked, generally during a reference period of 17 weeks, by the number of weeks. This indicates that someone may work more than 48 hours in a week as long as the average time over 17 weeks is less than 48 hours.

Certain activities will be considered labor in this computation. A working week may include paid or unpaid overtime requested by the employer; time spent on call within the workplace or where work-related activities are required; working lunches such as a business lunch; time spent traveling if travel is required as part of the job; and travel between home and work at the start and end of the working day if there is no fixed place of work.

Working hours, on the other hand, do not usually include unpaid overtime that the worker has volunteered for; time spent away from the workplace where the worker is not required to do anything work-related; lunch or other breaks where no work is done; paid or unpaid holiday; travel that is outside of normal working hours and not requested by the employer; or travel to and from work if the worker has a fixed place of work.

Most employees may opt out of the 48-hour weekly limit by signing a formal agreement known as a 'opt-out agreement,' but they are not required to do so and must not be treated differently or be exposed to any disadvantage if they decline. They may also later change their minds about opting out, giving their employer notice to rescind the arrangement. This notice time is usually 7 days, but it may be up to 3 months.

Balance if a worker has not opted out of the weekly limit, it is still allowed to work more than 48 hours in any one week on an ad hoc basis, as long as their hours are subsequently lowered to even out their weekly average. In the absence of a contractual clause addressing this case, the worker must first agree.