Originally from: AAA Handbook on Employment Arbitration and ADR - 2nd Edition

Over the last two decades, there has been a substantial increase in the number of EEO lawsuits and charges relating to workplace disputes being filed. This has led to the search for alternative methods of resolving such disputes. Voluntary mediation, one such alternative, is underutilized in EEO and other types of disputes. This chapter shows the results of a survey conducted to find out why voluntary mediation is not used more often. This chapter also proposes the private tolling of relevant statutory time limits in order to create an “ADR cooling off period” for workplace disputants.

It has been said that “too few disputes settle, and too many that do settle drag on far too long.”1 Although this statement was made within the broader context of bargaining impediments and settlement behavior, the concerns expressed by those researchers are also applicable to the impediments and barriers related to the utilization of agency-connected voluntary EEO mediation programs. The purpose and objective of this chapter is to examine empirically those factors which EEOC disutants believe are significant impediments or barriers which might explain the underutilization of EEO mediation programs offered at the administrative agency level.