12.3.82 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 62/7 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Directive on voluntary part-time work 
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 4 January 1982) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN 
COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community, and in particular 
Article 100 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European 
Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas the Council, in its resolution adopted on 
18 December 1979 on the adaptation of working 
time O, stated in relation to part-time working that it 
'must be voluntary, open to both men and women 
and must not be imposed on persons who wish to 
work full time'; 
Whereas the Parliament, in its resolution adopted on 
17 September 1981 on employment and the adap­
tation of working time (2), stated in relation to part-
time working that 'this form of work must be the 
result of a voluntary choice' and 'steps must be taken 
to prevent discrimination'; 
Whereas although part-time work has become a 
feature of the labour market, measures have yet to be 
taken to guarantee pan-time workers the same rights 
as full-time employees while taking into account the 
special features of part-time work; 
(') OJNoC2, 4. 1. 1980, p. 1. 
(') OJNoC260, 12. 10. 1981. Whereas this measure is designed to complement in 
the field of part-time work existing legislation on the 
realization of equal treatment for men and women; 
Whereas there are still significant differences between 
the Member States concerning the implementation of 
the principle of non-discrimination between part-time 
and full-time workers, and these differences can 
distort competition between undertakings and affect 
the functioning of the common market; 
Whereas it is therefore necessary to remedy this 
situation by approximating the laws of the Member 
States while maintaining the improvement referred to 
in Article 117 of the Treaty. 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 
Article 1 
This Directive covers part-time work. 
For the purpose of this Directive, the following 
definitions shall apply: 
— normal hours of work: the normal working hours 
for any particular category of worker established 
by legislation, by collective agreement or by 
agreement concluded at the level of the individual 
establishment or undertaking; 
— full-time work: work performed on a regular basis 
for the normal hours of work; 
— part-time work: work performed on a regular basis 
in respect of which an employer and a worker 
agree to shorter working hours than the normal 
hours of work; 
— full-time (part-time) worker: a worker who agrees 
with his or her employer to carry out full-time 
(part-time) work. 
C^OCD^ Cofficial Journal of the European Communities n^^ 
A^c^ ^ 
Rartnme workers shall not he discriminated against 
as compared with fullnme workers in respect of 
working conditions, rules ^overnm^ dismissal, 
entitlement to participate actively or passively in 
bodies representing employees and access to 
vocational training, promotion, social facilities and 
medical care This is hereinafter referred to as the 
^principle of nondiscriminations 
A^o^^ 
1 Rarttime workers shall not he excluded from 
statutory or occupational social security schemes 
Their contributions to and benefits from such 
schemes shallbemade on thesamebasis as for full 
time workers,taking account of thehours worked bv 
the part-time workers andBor the remuneration 
received 
^ member states shall be exempt from applying 
the provisions of paragraph 1 to parttime workers 
whose working hours andBor remuneration are belo^ 
the threshold of eligibility for statutory or occuD 
pational social security schemes 
Ar^cA^ ^ 
1 The remuneration,holiday pay,redundancypav 
and retirement benefits of parttime workers shall, 
taking account of the hours of work, be in proportion 
to those of fulPtime workers dom^ an equivalent ^ob 
^ Rara^raph 1 shall be without prejudice to the 
ability of the member states to allow more favourable 
treatmenttobe^iventoparttimeworkersby means 
of laws, regulations and administrative provisions, 
collective agreements or other agreements 
The nature of the parttime work,the hours of work 
and the arrangements for the distribution of these 
hours shall be specified in a written agreement 
between the employer and the worker 
A^A ^ 
Rarttime workers wishing to occupy or return to a 
fulltime^oborfulltime workers wishing to occupy 
or return toaparttime^ob in the same establishment 
or undertaking shall have priority over candidates 
outside theundertakm^whereavacancy occurs m a situationcorrespondm^totheir skills or occupational 
experience 
Rarttime workers shall be taken into account, at least 
in proportion to their working hours, in the total 
count of employees m an establishment or under 
taking, particularly for the purposes of determining 
the social obligations which arehnkedto the number 
of workers employed 
A^c^^ 
Recourse to parttime work shall come within the 
scope of the procedures for the information and 
consultation of workers^ representatives as are in 
force for fulltimeworkersmthe member states 
1 Any laws, regulations and administrative 
provisions in breach of the preceding Articles shall be 
abolished 
^ Any provisions in breach of the preceding 
Articles which are included in collective agreements 
or individual contracts of employment shall be, or 
may be declared, null and void 
A^c^ A^ 
f member states shall implement the laws, re^u 
lations and administrative provisions necessary to 
comply with this Directive not later than I January 
lA^ and shall notdy them to the Commission 
without delay 
^ member states shall communicate to the 
Commission the te^ts of the laws, regulations and 
administrative provisions which they adoptmthe field 
cohered bv this Directive 
^ithmtwo years of the e^piryof the period referred 
torn Article lO, member states shall forward to the 
Commission all necessarvinformation to enable itto 
drawupareporton the apphcationof this Directive 
for submission to the Council 
This Directive is addressed to the ^viembe^ states