Preamble
The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its 81st Session on 7 June 1994, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to part-time work, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Recommendation supplementing the Part-Time Work Convention, 1994;
adopts this twenty-fourth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four the following Recommendation, which may be cited as the Part-Time Work Recommendation, 1994:
- 1. The provisions of this Recommendation should be considered in conjunction with those of the Part-Time Work Convention, 1994 (hereafter referred to as "the Convention").
- 2. For the purposes of this Recommendation:
- (a) the term "part-time worker" means an employed person whose normal hours of work are less than those of comparable full-time workers;
- (b) the normal hours of work referred to in clause (a) may be calculated weekly or on average over a given period of employment;
- (c) the term "comparable full-time worker " refers to a full-time worker who:
- (i) has the same type of employment relationship;
- (ii) is engaged in the same or a similar type of work or occupation; and
- (iii) is employed in the same establishment or, when there is no comparable full-time worker in that establishment, in the same enterprise or, when there is no comparable full-time worker in that enterprise, in the same branch of activity,
as the part-time worker concerned; - (d) full-time workers affected by partial unemployment, that is by a collective and temporary reduction in their normal hours of work for economic, technical or structural reasons, are not considered to be part-time workers.
- 3. This Recommendation applies to all part-time workers.
- 4. In accordance with national law and practice, employers should consult the representatives of the workers concerned on the introduction or extension of part-time work on a broad scale, on the rules and procedures applying to such work and on the protective and promotional measures that may be appropriate.
- 5. Part-time workers should be informed of their specific conditions of employment in writing or by any other means consistent with national law and practice.
- 6. The adaptations to be made in accordance with Article 6 of the Convention to statutory social security schemes which are based on occupational activity should aim at:
- (a) if appropriate, progressively reducing threshold requirements based on earnings or hours of work as a condition for coverage by these schemes;
- (b) as appropriate, granting to part-time workers minimum or flat-rate benefits, in particular old-age, sickness, invalidity and maternity benefits, as well as family allowances;
- (c) accepting in principle that part-time workers whose employment has come to an end or been suspended and who are seeking only part-time employment meet the condition of availability for work required for the payment of unemployment benefits;
- (d) reducing the risk that part-time workers may be penalized by schemes which:
- (i) subject the right to benefits to a qualifying period, expressed in terms of periods of contribution, of insurance or of employment during a given reference period; or
- (ii) fix the amount of benefits by reference both to the average of former earnings and to the length of the periods of contribution, of insurance or of employment.
- 7.
- (1) Where appropriate, threshold requirements for access to coverage under private occupational schemes which supplement or replace statutory social security schemes should be progressively reduced to allow part-time workers to be covered as widely as possible.
- (2) Part-time workers should be protected by such schemes under conditions equivalent to those of comparable full-time workers. Where appropriate, these conditions may be determined in proportion to hours of work, contributions or earnings.
- 8.
- (1) As appropriate, threshold requirements based on hours of work or earnings as specified under Article 8 of the Convention in the fields referred to in its Article 7 should be progressively reduced.
- (2) The periods of service required as a condition for protection in the fields referred to in Article 7 of the Convention should not be longer for part-time workers than for comparable full-time workers.
- 9. Where part-time workers have more than one job, their total hours of work, contributions or earnings should be taken into account in determining whether they meet threshold requirements in statutory social security schemes which are based on occupational activity.
- 10. Part-time workers should benefit on an equitable basis from financial compensation, additional to basic wages, which is received by comparable full-time workers.
- 11. All appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that as far as practicable part-time workers have access on an equitable basis to the welfare facilities and social services of the establishment concerned; these facilities and services should, to the extent possible, be adapted to take into account the needs of part-time workers.
- 12.
- (1) The number and scheduling of hours of work of part-time workers should be established taking into account the interests of the worker as well as the needs of the establishment.
- (2) As far as possible, changes in the agreed work schedule and work beyond scheduled hours should be subject to restrictions and to prior notice.
- (3) The system of compensation for work beyond the agreed work schedule should be subject to negotiations in accordance with national law and practice.
- 13. In accordance with national law and practice, part-time workers should have access on an equitable basis, and as far as possible under equivalent conditions, to all forms of leave available to comparable full-time workers, in particular paid educational leave, parental leave and leave in cases of illness of a child or another member of a worker's immediate family.
- 14. Where appropriate, the same rules should apply to part-time workers as to comparable full-time workers with respect to scheduling of annual leave and work on customary rest days and public holidays.
- 15. Where appropriate, measures should be taken to overcome specific constraints on the access of part-time workers to training, career opportunities and occupational mobility.
- 16. Provisions of statutory social security schemes based on occupational activity that may discourage recourse to or acceptance of part-time work should be adapted, in particular those which:
- (a) result in proportionately higher contributions for part-time workers unless these are justified by corresponding proportionately higher benefits;
- (b) without reasonable grounds, significantly reduce the unemployment benefits of unemployed workers who temporarily accept part-time work;
- (c) overemphasize, in the calculation of old-age benefits, the reduced income from part-time work undertaken solely during the period preceding retirement.
- 17. Measures should be considered by employers to facilitate access to part-time work at all levels of the enterprise, including skilled and managerial positions where appropriate.
- 18.
- (1) Where appropriate, employers should give consideration to:
- (a) requests by workers for transfer from full-time to part-time work that becomes available in the enterprise; and
- (b) requests by workers for transfer from part-time to full-time work that becomes available in the enterprise.
- (2) Employers should provide timely information to the workers on the availability of part-time and full-time positions in the establishment, in order to facilitate transfers from full-time to part-time work or vice versa.
- 19. A worker's refusal to transfer from full-time to part-time work or vice versa should not in itself constitute a valid reason for termination of employment, without prejudice to termination, in accordance with national law and practice, for other reasons such as may arise from the operational requirements of the establishment concerned.
- 20. Where national or establishment-level conditions permit, workers should be enabled to transfer to part-time work in justified cases, such as pregnancy or the need to care for a young child or a disabled or sick member of a worker's immediate family, and subsequently to return to full-time work.
- 21. Where obligations on employers depend on the number of the workers they employ, part-time workers should be counted as full-time workers. Nevertheless, where appropriate, part-time workers may be counted proportionately to their hours of work, it being understood that where such obligations refer to the protection mentioned in Article 4 of the Convention, they should be counted as full-time workers.
- 22. Information should be disseminated on the protective measures that apply to part-time work and on practical arrangements for various part-time work schemes.
