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Employment law brief: 15 March 2024

15 March 2024 / Ian Smith
Issue: 8063 / Categories: Features , Employment , Discrimination , Bias , Equality
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Discrimination in the workplace has been the focus of some notable cases recently. Ian Smith briefs us on four particularly thorny ones
  • Appropriate comparators and their relationship with the statutory reversal of the burden of proof.
  • Contract terms banning the wearing of overt religious signs.
  • Justification of age discrimination relating directly to the provision, criterion or practice.
  • Harassment ‘related to’ the protected characteristic.

For some months now, the cases considered in this brief have concentrated on developments in employment law as such. In the past month, however, there have been several more legislative changes (including the annual uprating of compensation amounts and changes to paternity rights) and a little flurry of case law on discrimination law in the employment context. The four cases mentioned here are: a consideration by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) of the role of comparators and how they interact with the burden of proof; a decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the vexed question of bans on face coverings

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Birketts—trainee cohort

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NEWS
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The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
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