part-timers’ rights

In 1994, British courts heard the case of Patricia Day who was made redundant after working for nearly five years as a part-time cleaner. Her employer, Hertfordshire County Council, stated that under UK law she was not entitled to any redundancy pay because she worked for less than 16 hours a week.

The judges decided that, although this practice did not break UK law it was a form of discrimination against women, as most of the part-time workforce was female.
As sex discrimination in employment was expressly forbidden in European Union law, the British government had to change the law. Shortly afterwards the law was altered to give full and part-time workers similar employment rights.