Case Study: Does Mediation Solve the Employees Grievance?

We typically think of mediation as the province of marital counselors and labor strife. More organizations use mediation to resolve conflicts than you might think. In fact, in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, and India, mediation is growing rapidly as a means to settle employment disputes. Lets look at some examples when it has succeeded and when it has failed.

Mediation has often succeeded:

Many states have experimented with mediation as an alternative to traditional trials to resolve legal disputes. The state of Maryland found in a pilot program that 58 percent of appellate cases could be resolved through mediation and that mediation was both cheaper and faster than a traditional courtroom resolution.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that oversees employment discrimination complaints in the United States, uses mediation extensively. Safeway, the third-largest U.S. supermarket chain, uses the EEOC to mediate numerous employment disputes. Says Donna Gwin, Safeways Director of Human Resources, Through mediation, we have had the opportunity to proactively resolve ssues and avoid potential charges in the future. We have seen the number of charges filed with EEOC against us actually decline. We believe that our participating in mediation and listening to employees concerns has contributed to that decline. However, mediation doesnt always work:

In 2008, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), representing some 350 studios and production companies, engaged in prolonged negotiations over a new labor agreement. The negotiations failed, and the parties agreed to mediation. However, mediation also failed, and in response, SAG asked its members to approve a strike authorization.

When David Kuchinsky, the former driver for New York Knicks center Eddy Curry, sued Curry for sexual harassment, discrimination, and failure to pay $93,000 in wages and reimbursements, the parties agreed to mediation. However, after the sides failed to reach a settlement during mediation, Kuchinsky reinstated his lawsuit, and Curry filed a $50,000 countersuit.

Questions 1. Drawing from these examples, what factors do you think to different occasions when mediation was successful and when it failed? 2. One successful mediator, Bostons Paul Finn, argues that if the disputing parties are seeking justice, Its best to go somewhere else. Why do you think he says that? 3. Do you think a mediator should find out why the parties want what they want? Why or why not?