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EEOC Mediation
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EEOC Mediation
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Received a EEOC Notice of Charge of Discrimination for race and age. Can the employee and employer mediation on our own, without calling in a EEOC mediator?
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » EEOC Mediation
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EEOC Mediation
posted at 6/30/2009 12:54 PM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I would not do so without legal counsel (on both sides).
But I am sensing that you feel there is something to the claim. Is there? If so, I would get counsel involved yesterday. They will do a much better job of giving you advice than this board ever could. Plus I wonder if doing so would be seen as interfering/retaliating in the employee's rights to file an EEOC claim? Plus anything the company said in internal mediation could be used against them. The EEOC mediator is seen as an impartial 3rd party....I can't see where your internal meeting would accomplish the same thing. Unless you are going to bring in an outside mediator and who is going to decide who that is? I would proceed with the EEOC mediation. |
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EEOC Mediation
posted at 6/30/2009 4:54 PM EDT
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
The employee is represented. If you choose mediation with the EEOC the EEOC will represent the employee.
I never mediate with the EEOC, even if I know the company is wrong. In fact, I never talk to the EEOC, I hand these off to retained counsel and have someone get them the information that is requested. I do not mediate. |
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EEOC Mediation
posted at 7/1/2009 4:26 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
We also chose not to mediate the one case I have handled, mostly because we had documentation to back up our termination AND because we knew we would eventually prevail. And we did. (If we had a inkling that we were wrong, we might have mediated depending on legal counsel). Luckily my CEO is an attorney so I got good advice from the start of the claim. I did end up seeking outside counsel later in the claim (to get it to stop)....and she was able to give me exact wording to force a conclusion from the EEOC. But she stated we had done a good job defending our employer.
Coming out of that, I do agree with HRPro's perspective that the EEOC is on the employee's side. Even when documentation from the employer strongly shows no evidence of discrimination. In our case, I finally had to put an end to the requests for information and boldly state that the documentation I had provided proved our side. And wouldn't you know in the final report that the investigator plagarized my words/argument/evidence WORD FOR WORD. But at least found "no cause". It just took months when it should have taken days. But I strongly agree with HRPro -- retain counsel and let them handle the situation. This is not a DIY project. |
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