Discrimination against part-time workers – Augustine v Data Cars

The recent case of Augustine v Data Cars (2024) has highlighted that in order for there to be a breach of the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, a claimant's part-time status must be the sole reason for the less favourable treatment.

In this case, a part-time taxi driver was employed by Data Cars (“the Respondent”) and was required to pay a flat rate circuit fee of £148 in order to access the Respondent’s database. All drivers, irrespective of their working hours (i.e. part-time/ full-time) were required to pay this fee. The Claimant asserted that the requirement to pay the full £148 fee amounted to discrimination and was less favourable treatment than that of the full-time comparator.

Initially, the Employment Tribunal held that the part-time workers had not been subject to less favourable treatment as both part-time and full-time workers were required to pay the fee. Furthermore, the requirement for the part-time workers to pay the £148 was not solely due to them being part-time.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”), although finding that the outcome was correct, disagreed with the justification of the Employment Tribunal and instead found that:

1. The fact that part-time and full-time employees were both subject to the £148 flat rate fee shows that the employer was not treating all employees in the same way. Contrastingly, the part-time employees received less pay than the full-time comparator, after the deduction of the £148, when evaluated pro rata.
2. The EAT was bound by the judgement of McMenemy v Capita Business Services (2007). In this case it was determined that  in order to constitute less favourable treatment on the ground of being a part-time worker, such treatment must be solely for the reason of being part-time and nothing else. The EAT found that charging of the fee was not on the sole ground of being a part-time worker and therefore the claim was dismissed.

Employers will welcome this judgment although great care should always be taken if working practices mean that part-time workers are arguably treated less favourably than full-time employees. In addition, such practices need to be considered in light of other employment rights, for example, indirect discrimination based on sex.

If you have any queries in relation to part-time workers please do not hesitate to contact our employment team.