A new ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) once again reiterates that part-time workers must have the same rights as those who are employed full-time. Also in what affects the bonuses for overtime worked, according to the ruling to which this newspaper has had access.
Thus, the European Justice considers “discrimination” contrary to Community law to require that a part-time worker perform the same number of work hours as a full-time worker to obtain complementary remuneration. Therefore, it supports the need to adapt the threshold for activating overtime to the working time of the contract.
The court thus responds to a query from the German Supreme Labor Court to resolve the dispute of a pilot who worked part-time for the airline Lufthansa CityLine and who asked to reduce the thresholds taking into account the number of work hours performed, since that he considered that he was entitled to additional remuneration if these limits were reduced in proportion to working time, since these thresholds are identical for pilots who work full-time and for those who work part-time.
European justice agrees with the pilot and states that these national rules “generate less favorable treatment of part-time pilots, which is contrary to Union Law, unless such treatment is justified by an objective reason.” .
In its arguments, the CJEU points out that part-time workers, when they provide services, perform the same functions as workers hired by the same employer on a full-time basis or occupy the same position as them. Therefore, it considers that the situations of these two categories of workers are comparable. “The national court must, however, verify this point,” warns the ruling to which this newspaper has had access.
In Spain there are currently more than 2.8 million part-time workers who could benefit from this ruling and who have already seen how, thanks to another ruling from the European court, the method of calculating the pension has changed to be equal to that of workers full time.