AboutTimmy Chou Expertise I am a experienced Mediator and a partner in a management consulting firm. As a mediator I work as a third-party neutral and specialize in partnership/shareholder disputes, management/labor issues, company culture difficulties, and family-owned business problems. I can help describe why alternative dispute resolution may be a good choice for you. As an experienced management consultant I may be able to offer creative ideas to help resolve your organizational and business problems and disputes. "If you say conflict, I say opportunity".
Question I am a Respiratory Therapist with 16 years of employment in the same hospital. Of those 16 years I was the Supervisor for 13. The hospital was recently amalgamated and I lost my Supervisor role to a more Senior person. I recently applied for a job at the hospital to establish a Cardio-Pulmonary rehab program and I had a interview and was offered the position to start in January. Meanwhile another person who got interviewed put forward a grievance and it is now going to arbitration. This person has 21 years in the hospital and has no management experience which is why they chose me to establish the program. Do I need to worry about losing to this girl in arbitration?
Thanks for your advice.
Answer Thank you for your question!
Mediators act as neutral third parties to disputes and never "get involved" in judging the merits of conflict, but merely use special techniques to help the parties decide how to negotiate their own settlement.
I am not a lawyer and cannot mediate this with you alone but I can respond to your question from my business consulting experience.
Note that this issue may have legal factors and you may wish to consult a labor attorney.
It may be useful for you to consider that right and wrong are not always the most useful places to begin in dealing with these sorts of problems. organizations simply work in their own interests and often people and principle are sacrificed in the interests of expediency. Its not personal. Right or wrong, there is a cost to exacting justice and the costs can be quite high. Remember that your person-hood and your work are not even remotely related.
My initial reaction is that the only possible bad outcome would be that the position would be returned to the inventory and the application process would start again from scratch. I cannot imagine that the job would be "awarded" to her an arbitration over the fact that you have already been offered, and accepted the position. If that were to happen then YOU would file a grievance and I would think you would have a case. Other possibilities are that a ruling in favor of the other girl would allow her to get another similarly ranked position, or simply keep her where she is and increase her pay. It is not likely an arbitration proceeding that COULD impact you, would proceed without your input.
Be sure to review any policies and procedures concerning this process and note where you have leverage and make sure the procedure is followed exactly.
These are some ideas. Feel free to follow up with additional questions.
For your information, the pros and cons of the types of dispute resolution methods follows.
GOOD LUCK!
Arbitration, Mediation, and Litigation
Arbitration: the referral of a dispute to one or more impartial persons for final and binding determination outside of the judicial system
Benefits of Arbitration:
Confidential, no public record
Limited exchange of documentation, information
Quick, don't have to wait for a court date
Arbitrators have expertise in the subject matter and are trained in conflict resolution
Cheaper than litigation
Preserves business relationships
Negatives of Arbitration
It's a compromise, no 0 winner
Complex arbitration can be costly
If not satisfied, may litigate the arbitration procedure
Poor results with an unskilled arbitrator
Both parties must agree to cooperate in the process
Mediation: the process by which parties submit their dispute to a neutral third party (the mediator) who works with the parties to reach a settlement of their dispute.
Benefits of Mediation:
Neutral mediator can objectively suggest alternatives not considered
before
Parties are directly engaged in negotiating the settlement
Can be quicker than litigation
Less costly than litigation
Preserves business relationships
85 of American Arbitration Association cases mediated find successful solutions
Negatives of Mediation
may not reach a binding decision
unskilled mediator
Litigation: using the judicial system to resolve disputes
Benefits of litigation:
a clear winner and loser
uses a prescribed set of procedures
more predictable outcomes
is final
Negatives of Litigation:
waiting for court dates can do more harm
usually more expensive than mediation and arbitration
part of the public record
