News: Contract Law
Employment law training 'should examine mediation'
23 April 2009
Employment law training should highlight the new status held by mediation, a legal expert asserts.
Michael Lind, solicitor and managing director of the ADR Group, tells People Management that while this is not part of the legal process it can be a simultaneous procedure.
He says that new powers give tribunals the ability to raise or lower awards by a quarter depending on parties' adherence to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) code of practice.
This could be used to penalise those who refuse to take part in mediation unreasonably, he tells the news provider.
Mr Lind warns that settlements which are reached through this process are legally enforceable and he advises that the parties should record this in writing.
He tells the source that the Acas code of practice suggests that mediation should be used initially if there is a failure to resolve a workplace dispute.
In other news, employment law partner at Norton Rose Paul Griffin recently told People Bulletin that legal changes in holiday allocation earlier this month are unlikely to affect the majority of companies.
