What does part-time mean ?

Part-time work is a generalised term commonly applied to individuals who work less than 35 hours per week including permanent, casual and temporary workers. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in both its monthly Labour Force Survey, and the Population and Housing Survey (Census) 1986 distinguish between full- and part-time workers on the basis of hours usually worked per week. A full-time schedule is defined to exist when an individual usually works more than 35 hours per week.

Despite the commonly identified division between full- and part-time work, there exists several sub-groups of part-time work. The major sub­ groups are permanent, temporary, casual, outworkers and occasional part-time workers. The distinguishing features of each group which are identified in Australian awards shall be discussed in turn.

Permanent part-time usually refers to the work status of individuals whose hours of work per week may fluctuate from week to week, but who work less than 35 hours in any given week, and accrue pro-rata full-time benefits such as paid holiday leave and job security. Permanency in work, whether full- or part-time is usually attributed to individuals who work under conditions of employment where no limitations or reservations have been expressed by the employer about the possible tenure in that job. As for most types of full-time work, the continuation of employment of a permanent part- time worker is subject only to minimum standards of performance.

Temporary part-time workers usually work less than 35 hours per week, have access to paid holiday leave but usually do not have any job security. This category also consists of workers on full-time hours, that is 35 or more hours per week, for part of the year. An obvious example of this type of work is seasonal fruit and vegetable picking. Employment in temporary part-time

work is often based upon the completion of a specific task. For example, most contract labourer can be regarded as temporary part-time workers.

A casual employee is one whose employment does not carry with it the guarantee of a full week's work each week of the year. Thus, such employees do not have tenure with an employer as each work period (usually a fortnight) is a separate and distinct period of service. Casual workers usually do not have the non-pay benefits which are payable to other workers. These benefits include sick leave, annual leave2 and long service leave3. In cases where

individuals do not receive these benefits, some awards provide for a pay loading for casual employees.

Industrial tribunals have justified the existence of casual loadings on two major grounds. Firstly, the loading exists to compensate the employee for the lack of normal employment benefits available to other workers. Secondly, loadings are intended to deter employers from employing casuals at the expense of permanent employees. The actual entitlement of casual workers to overtime, public holiday loadings and superannuation4 depends upon the terms

of the relevant award. Some awards ensure that casuals are treated similarly to permanent employees in terms of incremental salary progressions. 5 In New

Casuals are entitled to annual leave under some awards, see Re Food Shops Award and Other Awards 1984 AILR 221, where accrual is based upon the hours worked. Exception to this rule is Queensland where casuals may be excluded from annual leave entitlements provide under Queensland Industrial Relations Awards (QIRA), however, awards can stipulate annual leave entitlements, see Case No. C2 1963; Re Miscellaneous Workers Award - St 1987 AILR 127 where it was decided that female casuals were entitled to annual leave.

In New South Wales, Sheppard v. TAB 1989 AILR 351, it was deemed that long service leave was not available to casuals under pre 1985 law, from 1985 amendments were made to allow casual employees to accumulate periods employed by the same employer under separate contracts with one employer. This precedent has been upheld by subsequent decisions including Kable v.

Magnamail Pty Ltd 1990 AILR 99 where long service leave was deemed appropriate to casual employees but not respective o f 1985 amendment.

One precedent for casuals eligibility is FLAIEU v. Registered Clubs ofTas. & Anor 1988 AILR 38.

South Wales, casual employees usually receive, in addition to their casual loading, one twelfth of a years salary for their period of em ploym ent6. Table 3.1 provides estimates of the extent of casual loading under Federal and Victorian Awards.

Casual work may be divided into regular and irregular components. For both types of casual workers, the hours of work are usually less than 35 hours per week. Usually they do not receive pro-rate full-time benefits such as paid

TABLE 3.1 : Casual loadings in a sample of Australian Awards

Loading Number of Federal Awards Number of Victorian Awards Not Specified 33 (7.3) n.a. less than 15% 17 (3.7) n.a. 15 % 33 3 (7.3) (5.0) 1 5 - 2 0 % 18 (4.0) n.a. 20% 250 17 (55.1) (28.3) 20 - 25% 4 (0.4) n.a. 25 % 70 18 (15.4) (30.0) 25 + 29 22 (6.4) (36.67) TOTAL 454 60 (100.0) (100.0)

( ) brackets denote percent o f total; n.a represents not applicable

Source : Specialist Research Services (1986) as quoted in Lewis (1990) Tables 28,29, p l08

holiday or sick leave but instead are paid only according to the number of hours worked. The distinction between the two groups is that regular casuals can expect a steady income stream throughout the year, whereas irregular casuals have a volatile income stream due to fluctuations in the hours required per week. For both groups employment is usually undertaken on an "as required" basis.

An additional group of workers which may be defined within part-time work are outworkers. Remuneration of outworkers is based upon per unit output rather than hours of work. Work is generally done away from the employer's premises (usually in an individual’s home). This type of work is most commonly associated with industries such as clothing, textiles and footwear.

Occasional part-time work is sometimes referred to as casual full-time. Occasional part-time employees are required as a result of unforeseen demand for labour changes or as temporary relief for employees on leave. As a result of these factors, occasional part-time workers do not have any form of job security. To be regarded as an occasional worker, employees must not have worked full-time for all of the preceding 12 months and not be entitled to paid holiday leave. Occasional workers include "on call" workers, common in the sales and service sectors, and individuals employed as temporary relief agency workers.