Practical Law

Many employers, from factories to care homes to call centres, require workers to perform tasks overnight. Sometimes, however, the tasks arise so intermittently and unpredictably that an employer just needs someone to be on call, ready to perform a task when needed. When tasks are sufficiently infrequent, the employer may arrange for the worker to … Continue reading Still sleeping on the job? Supreme Court upholds Court of Appeal decision on national minimum wage for sleep-in workers →

In his opinion in VL v Szpital Kliniczny im. dra J. Babińskiego, Samodzielny Publiczny Zakład Opieki Zdrowotnej w Krakowie (Case C-16/19) EU:C:2020:479, Advocate General Pitruzzella concludes that, where an employer treats two groups of disabled people differently on the basis of an apparently neutral criterion, there may be a breach of the principle of equal … Continue reading VL and indirect discrimination →

In The Mayor & Burgesses of the London Borough of Lambeth v Simone Agoreyo [2019] EWCA Civ 322, the Court of Appeal confirmed that suspension of an employee is to be treated like any other alleged breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence: the question is whether the employer’s conduct, without reasonable … Continue reading Reasonable and proper cause for suspension →

Until recently, a series of EAT decisions stretching back more than a decade appeared to establish that some sleep-in workers were entitled to be paid the national minimum wage (NMW) for every hour of their shift, including hours when they were asleep. In Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake (Care England intervening) [2018] EWCA Civ 1641, … Continue reading Sleeping on the job? Court of Appeal overturns EAT on national minimum wage for sleep-in workers →

In Efobi v Royal Mail Group Ltd UKEAT/023/16, the EAT considered the proper interpretation of the burden of proof provision in section 136 of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010). The burden of proof provision The difficulties of proving discrimination are well known, and tribunals must often decide cases on the basis of inference from … Continue reading Lightening the load? Discrimination and the burden of proof in Efobi v Royal Mail Group Ltd →