The Government has failed to meet commitments in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness to give nearly 270,000 part-time workers new rights to pensions, holidays and other entitlements. Legislation was due to be presented to the Oireachtas last June, but is still at the drafting stage.
The Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, said yesterday that the Bill would become law by January 20th next, the final deadline permitted by the European Commission. Mr Kitt said the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Bill would be published shortly.
The Bill is to replace the 1990 Part-Time Working Act, under which part-time employees had to work at least eight hours a week for 13 weeks to be eligible for protection. Only a fraction of part-time employees benefited from it.
The new Bill is expected to cover most of the 269,900 people classified as part-time workers, as there is no hourly or weekly threshold. When it becomes law it will entitle part-time workers to occupational pension schemes, holiday pay, sick leave and other benefits on the same basis as full-time employees. They will also be covered by unfair dismissals, minimum notice and redundancy legislation.
Employers will not be allowed to pay part-time workers a lower basic rate than full-time employees.
However, any benefits will be paid to part-time workers on a pro rata basis. In other words, someone working only a third of the basic working week will be entitled to only a third of the entitlements received by full-time staff.
Since 1987 the ratio of part-time workers has increased from one in 15 of the workforce to one in eight.
The Government was supposed to implement the 1997 EU Council Directive on Part-Time working by January 20th, 2000, but received a derogation until January 20th, 2001. During negotiations on the PPF, commitments were given that the Bill would be before the Oireachtas no later than June.
Yesterday, SIPTU's national equality officer, Ms Rosheen Callender, welcomed the belated commitments from Mr Kitt, but said it was "extremely regrettable the Government did not meet the original deadline and is going right to the wire".