I’ve practiced employment law for more than 35 years, representing both employees and employers. I‘ve also been selected as an Arbitrator in more than 50 employment arbitrations. As a result of this experience, I have come to recognize common factors that often precipitate wrongful termination cases. While there’s no way to guarantee a lawsuit won’t …
In 1998, Professor Thomas J. Stipanowich, then of the University of Kentucky, was asked to chart the future of arbitration in the 21st Century. He suggested then that arbitrators would increasingly be asked to “wear more than one hat.” That is, he predicted the growth of hybrid forms of dispute resolution such as “med-arb,” a process …
Hostile mail – especially email – has become much more common over the past decade. Most of this mail is just “venting,” and has little real significance. However, when people are involved in a formal conflict (a divorce, a workplace grievance, a homeowners’ association complaint, etc.) there may be more frequent and intensely hostile mail. …
Executive turnover is costly. Signing bonuses, search fees, severance packages, and much more bring estimates of the turnover cost of a “C-suite” employee to $1.5 million. Consulting firms estimate the cost at 1.5 to 3 times annual salary, or more.Yet executives don’t always mesh well. Personality clashes, disagreements on corporate strategy, or the corporate governance …
That I am writing this article tends to prove the thesis of this article— different generations have different goals and priorities regarding career, life, and workplace. In the spirit of full disclosure, I border Generation X and Y, and identify with characteristics of both groups. In line with Generation X-ers, I believe there is more …
The holiday season is meant to be a season of thanks, of giving, of love and of friendship. Picture yourself with a mug of your favorite tea or hot chocolate, sitting in the cozy corner of your couch in front of a fireplace surrounded by family, friends, good food, and laughter. At work, this means …
Ever get mad at someone because they did something you didn’t expect? Of course you have, we all have. They’re not something we directly think about every day, but expectations are a key component of what drives many peoples’ behavior – including our own – all the time. When we sit down at a nice …
Conflict is a normal and natural part of human interaction, in the workplace and everywhere else. Generally, the short-term cost of resolving conflict is negligible compared to the cost of leaving conflicts unresolved. Learn how to deal with difficult people at work to effectively resolve conflict.
One reason I started this site was because there didn’t seem to be all that many blogs on mediation, so I thought I might be able to contribute to the discussion. Since I started, some have dropped out, and new sites have cropped up. Here is a list of some sites that have mostly been around longer than I have, and that I tend to turn to most often.
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires covered employers to grant reasonable accommodations to those otherwise qualified employees who are able to complete the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation. The employer may negate the duty by showing that the only possible reasonable accommodations impose an undue hardship on the employer.
