Following up on this post yesterday, I found this on the EEOC’s web site: “An Investigation of the Reasons for the Lack of Employer Participation in the EEOC Mediation Program.”
Interesting points: many of the employers who chose not to mediate due to their perception of the lack of merit of the charge were “well informed regarding the EEOC processes and the EEOC mediation program,” “many had prior experience mediating in the program,” and “the vast majority of the employers conducted their own internal investigation of the charges prior to declining to participate.”
The EEOC concluded: “It is the employer’s perceived quality of the charge that dictates whether the employer goes to mediation, not the perceived quality of the mediation program.”
I would concur, with this significant exception:
If a charge has very little merit and the mediator is knowledgeable and good (as is the case of one here in St. Louis), the settlement will be so inexpensive as to truly be a “nuisance settlement” which will not significantly reward the charging party (e.g., < $5,000).
On the other hand, if the charge looks like it may have some merit, or some complicating factors, mediation may work better after litigation has been commenced and there has been some formal discovery.
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