Resolving Disputes through Employment Mediation
Michael Roberts
Few controversies are more damaging to a business than a dispute with an employee. In today's environment, a single major employment dispute can result in the erosion of substantial assets because of legal fees and a potential jury award.

Strategies for a Successful Employment Mediation

Sara Ader

In October 1998, President Clinton signed the Dispute Resolution Act of 1998 mandating all federal courts to develop an ADR program. For most, as for many state courts, this will principally be a mediation program. The second choice may be arbitration subject to a trial de novo and the third likely alternative is early neutral evaluation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and some state and local anti- discrimination agencies have instituted mediation programs as part of their early resolution efforts. A very high, and growing, percentage of employment litigation is now resolved through mediation.

Preparing for Effective Employment Mediation
Joe Epstein
Given the increasing use of employment mediation and its accepted advantages, this article has been prepared to guide attorneys in the mediation of their employment cases.

Settling Employment Cases Just Got Easier: New Tax Law Excludes Attorneys Fees’ Portion of Recovery from Income to Plaintiff
Jan Frankel Schau
If there is anything that the typical clever lawyer does right, it is to shy away from offering tax advice to his clients. For years, the question of taxability of the attorney’s fee earned on an employment case has been particularly perplexing for two reasons: first, because the fee may be a substantial portion of the recovery, especially if it’s awarded under statute or as a contingency fee in a huge award; and second, because settlement of employment cases is otherwise taxed as earnings to the Plaintiff, unlike other personal injury actions. Few employment litigators, and even fewer employment mediators truly understand the workings of these tax laws.

National Employment Dispute Resolution Act of 2000 (NEDRA)

To amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991, to require the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to mediate employee claims arising under such Acts.

Mediation in Sexual Harassment Cases

Currently, there are more rules, regulations, and laws dealing with sexual discrimination, and particularly sexual harassment, than any other substantive area of employment. Litigation shows no sign of abating but is, in fact, still increasing. Sexual harassment is a subject of prominent concern for management and staff and much discussion and debate from the lunchroom to the Supreme Court.

The Costs of Harassment, the Value of Prevention
Daryl Landau
Every organization decides where to allocate resources to prevention, and where to reaction. Given the realities of scarce resources—time, money—and uncertainty about the future, it’s not possible to prevent every problem that could occur. This article makes a case, though, for the opportunity to save money through prevention in the area of workplace conflict, especially in cases of alleged harassment.