Workers ADR bid

CITY DISPUTES PANEL: support service aims to avoid tribunals

Solicitors are gearing up to help resolve employment disputes through mediation and conciliation after the City Disputes Panel launched a scheme to help deal with grievances before they reach the tribunal stage.

The employment support service initiative - set up to deal with some of the 100,000 employment disputes that arise each year - will provide guidance for employers, along with wording for inclusion in employment contracts to help them avoid disputes in the first place.

It will also focus on providing flexible, tailor-made solutions for disputes once they have arisen, with the aim of resolving them informally before they escalate into litigation.

The scheme will exist alongside mediation services provided by organisations such as the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), and will provide three stages of appeal outside the tribunal structure.

Around half of the 25 specialist panel members are lawyers experienced in acting for both employers and staff.

The service will be chaired by former Employment Appeals Tribunal president Sir Oliver Popplewell, and will also include human resources practitioners and employment tribunal heads.

The launch follows recommendations by the government's Employment Tribunal System Taskforce that more ADR solutions should be available to employers and staff.

Panel chief executive Karl Davies said ADR in employment cases was likely to become more important as responsibility for legal employment issues moved from the Department of Trade and Industry into the remit of the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) and the Civil Procedure Rules.

'[The LCD] is looking for better ways for parties to use their time, and to settle at the earliest opportunity,' he said.

Paula Rohan