The EAT has confirmed in Sharma and others v Manchester City Council UKEAT/0561/07 that part-time status need not be the only reason for discriminatory treatment for a claim to be successful under the Part Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. The decision in Sharma brings protection under the Regulations in line with other areas of discrimination law, where the discriminatory factor need not be the sole, or even the main factor influencing the employer.

This decision departs from the view taken by the EAT in Gibson v The Scottish Ambulance Service EATS/0052/04 where it was held that the part-time nature of a worker's status had to be the sole reason for discriminatory treatment in order for a claim under the Regulations to succeed. Gibson was based on a narrow interpretation of the provision in the Part Time Workers Directive (98/23/EC) that workers must not be treated less favourably "solely" because they work part-time.