Weekly Issue 613

Parental leave policies

A report by a consultancy company has found that only a small minority of employers are in a position to comply with a Bill currently making its way through parliament (...).

Evidential burden

The Court of Appeal has held in Efobi v Royal Mail Group Ltd that the onus is on the claimant, not the employer, to establish a complaint of discrimination by adducing the necessary evidence to support their claim as a first stage in the process. Tribunals cannot therefore draw adverse inferences against an employer on the basis of an assertion of discrimination which is unsupported by evidence (...).

Reasonable dismissal

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held in George v London Borough of Brent that, given that the Council had conceded that the failure to offer a trial period was unlawful, it was hard to understand how the tribunal could then conclude that the claimant’s dismissal was “fair and reasonable” (...).