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13 September 2024 / Ian Smith
Issue: 8085 / Categories: Features , Employment , Discrimination , Equality , Tribunals
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Employment law brief: 13 September 2024

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Basking in the dog days of summer, Ian Smith gets his teeth into recent case law involving bad blood, hearsay & a disappearing witness
  • Case one deals with discrimination law, the burden of proof and the drawing of inferences.
  • Case two relates to case management and equal pay.
  • Case three is on the topic of costs: the relevance of judicial mediation and assessment.
  • And case four demonstrates that there is no general requirement of corroboration of evidence in an ET.

As we await the publication of the new government’s promised Employment Rights Bill, the dog days of the fag end of the summer produced four cases worth considering. The first is a potentially important reconsideration of the case law on the burden of proof and the drawing of inferences in discrimination cases. This is followed by three quite short cases on aspects of employment tribunal (ET) procedure which all make precise but significant points.

Discrimination law

Unsurprisingly, the application of the Equality Act 2010, s 136

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NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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