“You’re Fired!” Resolving Workplace Disputes through Mediation and Other ADR Processes
Faculty: Tracy Allen and Eric Galton
Condition of enrollment: Participants should have completed at least a 40-hour basic commercial mediation training class or completed at least 10 civil employment mediations as a mediator, party representative, or advocate.
Employment workplace disputes are growing in number and complexity. While such topical cases comprise a good book for business for advocates and mediators, there is more work that can be done to create business solutions and strategies for employers and employees, intentionally directed toward curbing formal employment dispute litigation. This course is designed to look more holistically at the workplace construct, the emotional environment, the general applicable laws, and mediation solutions before and during litigation.
What You Will Learn:
- Identifying critical elements/dynamics of conflict in the workplace and employment disputes
- How ADR applies in the employment context and differentiates itself from other types of commercial disputes
- Understanding the emotional and personal dynamics of employees and employers in the conflict
- Workplace realities that impact process choices, methods for resolution, negotiation, and relationships
- Recognizing the key legal elements of wrongful discharge, sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wage and hour litigation
- Role of the neutral before and during litigation; opportunities for design of a process directed toward resolution and/or settlement negotiations
- Mediating employment-based disputes
Tracy L. Allen is a full-time mediator, arbitrator and ADR trainer. She teaches and practices internationally, providing conflict management, prevention, and training services worldwide. A former tax and business attorney, Allen mediates and arbitrates complex and highly emotional commercial, business, probate, securities, and employment cases. She is a Distinguished Fellow and a past president of the International Academy of Mediators. She has written numerous articles and is a contributing author in several books on ADR, with emphasis on mediation and negotiation strategies. She received the State Bar of Michigan ADR Section Distinguished Service Award in 2008 and currently serves on several specialty ADR provider panels nationally and internationally. Allen is an adjunct professor for the Institute for Conflict Management at Lipscomb University and a frequent lecturer for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education at the University of Michigan. Allen is the owner of her Detroit-based resolution firm, Global Resolutions, PLLC.
Eric R. Galton is a full-time mediator, arbitrator, and lecturer. Galton's book, Mediation: A Texas Practice Guide, received the Center for Public Resources Annual Book Award. He has since authored four more books with his most recent work, Ripples from Peace Lake. Galton is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and the Texas Academy of Attorney-Mediators. He is a member of the Texas State Bar ADR Section and has served on the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, and the board of directors for the Texas Association of Mediators. He has practiced law for 30 years, and is currently a partner in the mediation firm Lakeside Mediation and the law firm of Galton, Cunningham & Bourgeois, a purely dispute resolution and mediation firm in Austin, Texas.