Settling Disputes

Building on a successful pilot program in Los Angeles and other cities, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has launched a nationwide program to settle workplace complaints through voluntary mediation rather than lengthy investigations and litigation.

“When you go to court, it’s guaranteed that one party will win and one party will lose,” said EEOC Chairwoman Ida Castro, who was in Los Angeles recently to promote the national mediation program. “In mediation, both parties win because they’ve come to a resolution.”

About 50% of mediated cases were successfully resolved during the pilot program, Castro said.

However, about 70% of the employers who were offered mediation nationwide rejected the option, “and that’s pretty surprising,” Castro said. The reluctance to mediate was strongest among small companies that probably need it most, she said.

“They have the opportunity to address a dispute quickly in a way that doesn’t cost them, and they don’t have to feel that the government came in and hit them with a 2-by-4, or that the court is trying to run their business,” Castro said. “From a business perspective, it seems to me that it’s the best deal in town.”

The $13-million program is voluntary for both the employer and the person making the complaint. A neutral mediator guides the process, which remains confidential and separate from the EEOC’s enforcement operation. The EEOC hopes to resolve 10,000 cases a year through mediation, allowing the agency to focus on more “egregious” cases, Castro said.