New ruling: Part-time employees are entitled to overtime payment

Two new rulings specify that part-time employees are entitled to payment or time off in lieu for overtime worked in excess of their individually agreed working hours (e.g. 30 hours), and not only when their working hours exceed the standard full-time working hours (typically 37 hours). This applies if a comparable full-time employee in the same position would have been entitled to payment or time off in lieu for overtime.
    
The rulings mean that if a full-time employee at your workplace is entitled to payment for overtime at a rate of 1:1.5 or time off in lieu for overtime at a rate of 1:1.5, you, as a part-time employee, will have the same right to either payment or time off in lieu for the overtime worked in excess of your individually agreed working hours.   
 
If a comparable full-time employee at your workplace is not entitled to payment or time off in lieu for overtime, the rulings do not entitle you, as a part-time employee, to this either.

Part-time employee? Here's what you can do

If you are or have previously been employed part-time, either in the private or public sector, and have worked overtime beyond your individually agreed working hours, you may be entitled to payment or time off in lieu. The claim may relate to both past and future periods.  
However, you should be aware that this only applies if, as a part-time employee, you hold a position where a full-time employee in the same role would have been entitled to payment or time off in lieu for overtime.
 
The rulings are very recent, and significant clarifications are still pending with employers regarding how the claim should formally be raised and how any claim should be calculated in practice.   
If, as a part-time employee, you believe you have a claim, we at IDA can help you to:

• assess whether you have a claim
• review your documentation
• calculate any entitlement.

You can get help by writing to IDA’s legal advice service. Select the subject ‘working hours’ when writing to us.

Write to IDA’s legal advice service