Employment law SOS: part-time worker rights

The first thing to check will be what your employment contract says about working any additional hours over your 16 contractual hours a week. Contracts will often state that an employee may be required to work extra hours without payment to ensure the proper performance of their duties. If this is the case then your manager would appear to be entitled to require you to work the extra hours, unless this would mean that your average hourly rate for all hours actually worked falls below the national minimum wage. If the contract states that any extra hours will be paid then, if you agree to work the hours, but are not paid, you could claim for breach of contract or unlawful deductions of wages to recover the pay due to you. If the manager does dismiss you for refusing to work the extra hours without having the contractual right to require you to work them, then this may amount to an 'unfair' dismissal. However, as you have only been employed for three months, you are currently unable to make an unfair dismissal claim at an employment tribunal as you do not have the qualifying two years' continuous service. If the treatment from your manager is connected in any way to your part-time status then you may have a possible remedy. If none of your equivalent full-time colleagues are required to work additional hours without pay and/or received the same implied threat (ie, that they will lose their job if they fail to work additional hours without pay) then you could make a claim to a tribunal that you have suffered a detriment on the grounds of your part-time status. No qualifying service is required to bring such a claim.