Supreme Court confirms that employees bear initial burden of proof in discrimination claims

In Royal Mail Group Ltd v Efobi [2021] UKSC 33 (23 July 2021), the Supreme Court has confirmed that the wording of section 136(2) of the Equality Act 2010 has not altered the substantive law on burden of proof in employment discrimination cases. Under section 136(2), an employee still has the burden of showing a prima facie case of discrimination. If they do, the burden shifts to the employer to provide a non-discriminatory explanation. The tribunal should hear all the evidence, not just that of the employee, before deciding whether the burden of proof has shifted to the employer. However, this is not a change in the law, since it has already been authoritatively decided in case law.