The Labor Law of Cambodia does not precisely define the term “part-time worker” or “full-time worker”. Based on the principle of eight-hour work per day and 48-hour work per week, stipulated in Article 137 of the Labor Law, full-time workers are those who work from 40 hours up to 48 hours per work. Who is part-time worker? This article briefly discusses about the part-time worker.
Pursuant to ILO Part-Time Work Convention, 1994 (No. 175), the term “part-time worker” means an employed person whose normal hours of work are less than those of full-time comparable workers. The term “comparable worker refers to a full-time worker who (1) has the same type of employment relationship, (2) is engaged in the same, or similar type of work or occupation, and (3) is employed in the same establishment, or when there is no comparable full-time worker in that establishment, in the same enterprise or when there is no comparable full-time worker in that enterprise, in the same branch of activity.
Is part-time worker protected by the Labor Law? Pursuant to its Article 1, the Labor Law governs relations between employers and workers resulting from employment contracts to be performed within Cambodia. Further, the Labor Law, Article 3, provides that “worker is every person of all sex and nationality, who has signed an employment contract in return for remuneration, under the direction and management of another person, whether that person is a natural person or legal entity, public or private. To clearly determine the characteristics of a worker, one shall not take into account of neither the jurisdictional status of the employer nor that of the worker, as well as the amount of remuneration.”
The Labor Law categorizes the workers based on the stability of employment into regular and casual workers (Article 9) and based on method of remuneration into workers who are remunerated on a time basis, by the amount produced or piecework, on commission (Article 11). The Labor Law further highlights that casual workers are subject to the same rules and obligations and enjoy the same rights as regular workers, except for the clauses stipulated separately. (Article 10) Part-time worker falls under the category of regular or casual one who is paid on the timely basis, amount of work or commission.
According to above provisions, the Labor Law also applies to and consequently protects part-time workers. For example, part-time workers are employed under the fixed-duration contracts while others work under the undetermined duration contracts. Their rights and employments have been secured and protected pursuant to rules and regulations governing the fixed-duration contract and undetermined duration contract.