Employment Benefits for People Working Part-Time

There several reasons why people choose to work part-time. It could have to do with family obligations, school, or the company may only be offering part-time work. Regardless of the reason, most companies do not offer benefits for part-time employees. There are a handful of employers that offer benefits to those that are less than full-time.

What Constitutes Part-Time Work?

Generally speaking in the United States, a full-time employee works 40 hours per week. Anything less than 40 hours is considered part-time. The U.S. Department of Labor allows employers to define what is full-time and what is part-time. For instance, in some retail establishments full-time is 35 hours per week and part-time is 20 hours per week.

Benefits for Part-Time Employees

There more companies joining in to offer benefit packages to their part-time employees. Starbucks offers benefits to its part-time employees since the majority of their staff works part-time. Other popular companies that offer benefits to part-time employees include Whole Foods Market, Lowe's, UPS, and JC Penney. Some offer more benefits than others, such as full medical and others offer basic benefits for their part-time employees.

Department of Labor

Work hours among employees is not something that the Fair Labor Standards Act FLSA is involved with, they only set the minimum wage. The FLSA's efforts are toward all employees regardless if they are full-time or part-time, they do not differentiate. They do not become involved in benefits or record keeping of hours. For instance, some employees are classified as exempt or “salaried” where they may work more than 40 hours per week, the FLSA does not involve itself with this.