Say Cheese - Cracker Barrel Signs Mediation Agreement with the EEOC

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. have signed a Universal Agreement to Mediate (UAM) to resolve workplace disputes prior to an EEOC investigation or potential litigation.

One of the EEOC’s key efforts has been to expand mediation, thus far entering into 178 national and regional UAMs with private sector employers, including several Fortune 500 companies.

Additionally, EEOC district offices have entered into approximately 1,275 mediation agreements with employers at the local levels within their respective jurisdictions. Under the EEOC’s National Mediation Program, more than 110,000 charges of employment discrimination have been mediated.

Under the terms of the UAM, all eligible charges of discrimination filed with the EEOC Miami District Office in the State of Florida in which Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is named as an employer/respondent will be referred to the EEOC’s mediation unit, as appropriate.

Established in 1969, Cracker Barrel operates 582 company-owned locations in 41 states.

Biography

Jeffrey Krivis is the author of two books: Improvisational Negotiation: A Mediator’s Stories of Conflict about Love, Money, Anger—and the Strategies that Resolved Them, and How To Make Money As A Mediator And Provide Value To Everyone (Wiley/Jossey Bass publisher). He has been a successful mediator and a pioneer in the field for eighteen years. Krivis is on the board of visitors of Pepperdine Law School and serves as an adjunct professor of law at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. Contact him at his website, www.firstmediation.com.


Mariam Zadeh was an active trial lawyer in New York City until September 11, 2001, at which time her life was dramatically changed. She moved to Los Angeles, obtained her L.L.M. in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University, and became a partner with Jeffrey Krivis at First Mediation Corporation. Since joining Jeffrey Krivis, Mariam has successfully mediated employment, class actions, commercial, premises & professional liability, mass torts, medical malpractice, ERISA and other tort actions as well as matters pending on appeal. In 2007, Mariam was featured as a “Rising Star” in the Southern California Super Lawyers magazine and was profiled by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. She is a published author and frequently lectures and teaches at ADR workshops and classes throughout California.

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Bob Schrader,   North Conway NH	bob.schrader.esq@gmail.com      04/16/09
EEOC panel?
Jeffrey, first I want to thank you for your book, How to Make Money as a Mediator. It is great! As a new mediator it is an invaluable resource. Giving it to my mediator mentor that has not read it. Question on this article. I am going to research, but wonder if anyone knows offhand whether the EEOC has a panel for these types of cases, any special requirements/training to join. Thanks, Bob Schrader Add New Comment

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