Bank holidays and part-timers

A failure to allow a part-time worker who did not work on Mondays time off or payment for bank holidays was not discriminatory, because there were full-time staff who did not get the benefits either.

The facts

Mr McMenemy worked Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and did not get the benefit of paid bank holidays. He claimed that this was in breach of the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that this did not amount to less favourable treatment. The company operated a seven-day week, and 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 for the failure to give McMenemy pro-rata time off or payment , the EAT said, was not because he was part-time but because he did not work on Mondays.

McMenemy v Capita Business Services Ltd UKEATS/0079/05