Benefits of internal dispute resolution

The May Legal Trends column, "Keep 'Em at Will, Treat 'Em for Cause," spoke to adopting an internal dispute resolution process as important in demonstrating fairness to employees, and in identifying leadership practices that could be improved.

I'd like to add that companies would be wise to look even further to the benefits that can be gained from establishing such a process for employees to appeal management decisions. The mere existence of a final internal review of management decisions helps managers make better decisions on a day-to-day basis, because they become mindful that the decisions they make may be subject later to a test of proper and consistent application of policy and practice. If managers prepare to pass that test with each decision they make, they become stronger leaders and can confidently represent the decisions they make to those in the dispute resolution process who will review them.

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The lessons learned from a single dispute case are helpful to the parties involved, but the trended lessons across many cases can provide strong measures for prevention of similar problems in the future, and for generally improving the quality of the workplace.

Lastly, let's not forget that the speed and efficiency of the internal dispute resolution process, combined with a commitment to fairness, encourages employees to resolve issues inside the company, rather than resorting to litigation, unionization or filing agency charges.

Mary H. Harris

Rochester, N.Y.

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