Indirect discrimination occurs where:
· The employer applies a provision, criterion or practice (the PCP) to a worker who has a protected characteristic for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 and applies the same PCP to workers who do not share that protected characteristic.
· The PCP puts (or would put) people with whom the worker shares the protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage compared to those who do not share it (the group disadvantage).
· The PCP puts (or would put) the worker to that particular disadvantage (the individual disadvantage).
· The employer cannot show the PCP to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim (objective justification).
In Dobson v North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust UKEAT/0220/19/LA(V), the EAT ruled that Employment Tribunals must accept as fact that women still bear the primary burden of childcare responsibilities and this hinders their ability to work certain hours. This approach may help working mothers show that onerous working patterns are indirectly discriminatory on the grounds of sex.