Litigation

Ombudsman Helps Businesses With Conflicts

By Branham & Day

Creating an ombudsman position at your business can assist with effectively dealing with internal conflict short of litigation. Most employment litigation is originated because an employee feels like he or she has a legitimate dispute and no one in management either cares or listens. The feeling that "no one will listen to me" gives rise to a sense of disrespect and worthlessness. Lost in the sea of feelings is whether there is a real conflict and how it can be resolved. It seems that once an employee latches onto the negative feelings about either a situation or a particular manager/co-employee, the idea of a resolution becomes second priority.

The ombudsman does not replace the human resources function. The ombudsman is an additional position that is neutral and therefore should be touted as different from human resources, which many employees see as part of management. In other words, employees have an option available if they feel that human resources will simply toe the company line or, for some reason, not give them a fair shake. For example, for years many government agencies have employed an ombuds person for these very reasons.

The ombudsman position can be a very effective tool which provides an outlet for disgruntled employees to air disputes and reinstate respect in the workplace. A large percentage of litigation, including employment litigation, is spawned from misunderstanding. Imagine how much money a business can save by having an experienced neutral person review and assess a dispute before lawyers become involved. An ombudsman can also educate managers about dealing with workplace conflict and identify certain weaknesses in specific managers relating to interpersonal dealings that can be valuable come evaluation time.

The bottom line is that hiring an ombudsman is a little money spent internally to save a lot of money being sent externally to litigators. Read an interesting article on this topic relating specifically to retaliation claims here.

Full post as published by Tennessee Business Litigation Law Blog on February 28, 2007 (boomark / email).