Part-time workers

Case 6: The facts

Call-centre worker Mr McMenemy worked on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. He did not get time off in lieu of bank holidays that fell on a Monday, and claimed that this was in breach of the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000.

The ruling

Upholding the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (see Workplace Report, September 2006), the Court of Session held that McMenemy’s treatment did not amount to discrimination against part-timers. As the company operated a seven-day week, there were also full-time workers on a five-day week who received no payment or time off in lieu for bank holiday Mondays.

The reason McMenemy did not get paid bank holidays was not solely because he was a part-time worker, the court said, but because he did not work on Mondays.

McMenemy v Capita Business Services Ltd [2007] CSIH 25 ([2007] IRLR 400)