Miscellaneous

Mediation Failure or Case Success? Pregnancy Discrimination in NC

By Anne Skove, Esq.

Sometimes failure is not only an option, it's the best option.

"Fitting the forum to the fuss," a time-honored concept in conflict resolution, is an art. It's also a test of the conflict and the disputants. When mediation "fails," it's often because the parties and/or conflict was not a good fit for that particular forum.

A report of a pregnancy discrimination case from North Carolina reminds us of this principle. An unmarried, pregnant public school teacher was transfered and demoted, she says due to her condition. The transfer involved being moved to a position in a trailer without a restroom or running water, which, as anyone who's ever spent nine months great with child can tell you, would not be fun. (BTW, the dad was another teacher; no word on what, if anything, happened to him.)

The case went to mediation, as all civil cases in North Carolina's 100 counties do. It "failed," though, and is now in court.

Does this represent an argument against mandatory mediation? A failure of the system?

Not so fast. We think this is the perfect example of a trial-bound (or settlement-bound) case. Public policy, public schools, health, and employment discrimination are all at stake. Mediation might have been a good way to start off the case, bringing parties together in the same room to discuss their issues. Maybe they were able to narrow their issues. Maybe their lawyers got to know each other a little better. Maybe the sessions will help in the long run. When the parties reached an impasse, well, they just go onto court. Nothing lost, and maybe something gained.

See Pregnancy Discrimination Suit at Impasse, Deborah Hirsch, Charlotte Observer (June 11, 2008).

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on June 13, 2008 (boomark / email).