Part-Time Work: Particularities Of Employee Rights

• Author: Marioara Tichindelean
• Pages: 270-278

PART-TIME WORK: PARTICULARITIES OF EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

Professor Marioara ȚICHINDELEAN1

Abstract

Part-time working is a method of ensuring th e reconciliation between professional life and family life, the

possibility of undergoing education and train ing, of improving the qualification and of opening new pro fessional

opportunities to the mutual advantage of employers and employees in a man ner that supports the development of

enterprises. Employees’ rights based upon a part-time labour agreemen t can be grouped in rights given unconditionally

or rights conditioned by the performance of a certain volume of work, the latter being a characteristic of this type of

labour agreement, ta ken from the special regulation. In this survey we will refer to particular aspects of certain rights

given to the employee who performs part- time working, namely: the right to a salary for the work carried out, to weekly

rest, the right to annual rest leave, seniority, length of service in this field and retirement contributio n.

Keywords: part-time working, part-time labour agreement, right to salary for the work carried out, weekly

rest, seniority, length of service and retirement contribution.

JEL Classification: K31

1. Introductory notions

Part-time work represents a method ensuring the reconciliation between professional life

and family life, the possibility of education and training, of improvement and qualification and of

capitalizing on professional opportunities to the mutual benefit of the employer and employees in a

manner which supports enterprise development2. A reduced labor duration is the essence of this

contract and a certain type of schedule, established by agreement of the parties within the individual

employment contract, is important to allow the part-time employee to cumulate several part-time

individual employment contracts, respectively, to comply with the family motivations, related to

professional training, etc., which have determined them to conclude such an employment contract3.

Part-time labor represents either the activity carried out by the part-time employee, whose number

of business hours, calculated on a weekly basis or as a monthly average, is lower than the normal

number of working hours for a full-time employee4, either due to variable business hours, even

theoretical, of one day per week or even per month5 or it may represent a specific manner of

performance concerning the employment contract, being characterized solely by the reduction of

the normal business hours6.

2. Framework Agreement on Part-Time Work

This study is based on the coordinates included in the Framework Agreement on Part-Time

Work and especially on:

- clause 1: Object. The object of this Framework Agreement is: (a) to provide for the

removal of discrimination against part-time workers and to improve the quality of part-time work;

- clause 3 - Definitions: "part-time worker" refers to an employee whose normal hours of

work, calculated on a weekly basis or on average over a period of employment of up to one year,

1 Marioara Țichindelean - Faculty of Law, „Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Romania, tmsib@yahoo.com.

2 Directive 97/81/EC o f the Council as December 15, 1 997 on the Framework Agreement on p art-time work, concluded by UNICE,

CEEP and ETUC, annex Framework Agreement on Part-Time Work, section 5.

3 Felicia Roșioru, Dreptu l individual al muncii. Curs universitar (Individual Labor Law. University Course), Universul Juridic

Publishing House, Bucharest, 2017, p. 450.

4 Claudia-Ana Moarcăș Costea, Ana-Maria Vlăsceanu, Dreptul individual al muncii. Analize teoretice și studii de caz (Individual

Labor Law. Theoretical Analyses and Case Studies), C.H. Beck Publishig House, Bucharest, 2010, p. 50.

5 Magda Volonciu, in Alexandru Athanasiu, Magda Volonciu, Luminita Dima, Oana Ileana Cazan, Codul muncii (Labor Code).

Comments on articles. Volume I. Articles 1-107, C.H. Beck Publishing House, Bucharest, 2007, p. 521; Lavinia Onica Chipea,

Dreptul muncii. Curs universitar (Labor Law. University Course), Pro Universitaria Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013, p. 75.

6 Septimiu Panainte, Dreptul individual al muncii (Individual Labor Law), Hamangiu Publishing House, Bucharest, 2017, p. 195.