If you bring a discrimination claim in the Employment Tribunal, one of the hardest questions is this: When does the tribunal start expecting the employer to explain itself?

That issue was examined in Dr B Jones v ViiV Healthcare UK Ltd & Others [2026] EAT 24.
The case involved allegations of race and sex discrimination following a breakdown in the employment relationship. The tribunal accepted parts of the claim. 
The Employment Appeal Tribunal rejected that argument.
But the judgment gives helpful guidance on how tribunals should think about discrimination evidence.

Understanding the “Burden of Proof”
In discrimination cases, the law works slightly differently from many other claims.

If the claimant proves facts that suggest discrimination might have happened, the burden can shift. The employer must then show that discrimination was not the reason.

But the tribunal must first decide whether the evidence genuinely supports that inference.

The EAT emphasised that this is not a mechanical checklist.

“A particular factual feature may be found to cause, or contribute to, the shifting of the burden… but it does not give rise to a rule of law.”
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Just because something unusual happened does not automatically prove discrimination.

The tribunal must look atthe whole situation, not just one suspicious fact.​
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Sometimes people assume that if an employer behaves unfairly, discrimination must be involved.

The EAT reminded tribunals that this is not necessarily correct.

Earlier cases say that:

“Something more is needed before the burden of proof shifts.”

In plain English: Unfair behaviour alone does not prove discrimination. There must besomething connecting that behaviour to the protected characteristic, such as race, sex, disability, or age​

The EAT stressed that discrimination claims depend heavily on context.

“All depends on the overall factual picture and context of the given case.”

In plain English, the tribunal asks:

- What actually happened?
- What explanations exist?
- Does the situation logically suggest discrimination?
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Dr B Jones v ViiV Healthcare UK Ltd & Others [2026] EAT 24​