As many of us are aware, new employment legislation has come into play with the intention of reducing the number of Tribunal claims but will it make a difference to greater use of mediation?
The new legislation came into existence on 6th April 2009.
The Employment Act 2008 and the ACAS Code have not adopted any form of compulsion for mediation in the Tribunals and the references to mediation are not positive.
The only reference to mediation in the Code is in the non-binding foreword which states that, if the employer and employee cannot resolve their differences: ' ...employers and employees should consider using an independent third party to help resolve the problem. The third party need not come from outside the organisation but could be an internal mediator, so long as they are not involved in the disciplinary or grievance issue. In some cases, an external mediator might be appropriate.'
Acas is clearly promoting mediation which is welcome but as we know you need to use greater incentives to encourage greater use of mediation. Legal incentives which appear in Civil matters must be added to the mix if you want to have more use of mediation.
Justin Patten, Mediator