Rights of part-time fee-paid judge

Ministry of Justice (formerly Department for Constitutional Affairs) v O’Brien · Supreme Court · The Weekly Law Reports (www.iclr.co.uk) · 6 February 2001

A part-time fee-paid judge was a worker under European Union law and had a right not to be treated in a less favourable manner than comparable full-time workers. The denial of retirement pensions to part-judges when full-time judges were granted pensions was less favourable treatment for which there was no objective justification. Accordingly, on the basic principle of remunerating part-time workers pro rata temporis, a recorder was entitled to a pension on terms equivalent to those applicable to a circuit judge.