There are various types of laws meant to protect people from wrongdoing. Employment law is a growing legal field, wherein employees are protected in a sense from employer actions. Some of the topics that employment law covers have to do with age discrimination, fair labor standards and civil rights in the workplace, as well as Title VII issues, which prohibits discrimination at work based on sex, race and religion. Many of these issues can become quite complex and intricate and often take time to resolve. As a result, often times the employee is working throughout the process. There are cases, however, where this may not be appropriate.
The Department of Labor has published a report that speaks to employment litigation. This report illustrates how other forms of dispute resolution may be more beneficial and effective when it comes to resolving employee workplace matters. Because litigation in this area can be extremely time consuming and costly for the employee and the employer, hiring lawyers and going through a formal legal proceeding may not always be the best answer in these cases. This is where the report offers other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) solutions to solving employee-employer problems as opposed to going to litigation.
In order to do this, both parties have to actively participate in alternative dispute resolution for the process to work. Forms of ADR include but are not limited to mediation, arbitration, and binding arbitration. Each form is designed to handle a legal matter in a more informal setting. Mediation is a system whereby the parties willing enter into talks to resolve the problems. Mediation is not bonding in any way and the mediator is there to guide the process. Arbitration on the other hand can be binding hence making it more formal than mediation. Arbitration is more akin to a court proceeding.
Alternative dispute resolution can be a useful tool. In addition, it may be the wave of the future, according to the Department of Labor
Source: DOL.gov, "IV. Employment Litigation and Dispute Resolution," accessed on Sept. 24, 2014
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