Frequently asked questions

First ask whether the other person or people involved in the dispute want to try mediation.

If you know who your agency has designated as the ILCRG contact, tell that person you want to mediate and give the identifying information about the people on the other side. If you don't know your agency contact, then click on "About Us" to bring your problem to us directly. We will need information about the other side (name, phone number, e-mail, etc.)

You and the other parties select a date for the mediation that is acceptable to you all-generally about 2 - 3 weeks in the future-and communicate that date to the ILCRG. ILCRG staff will then arrange for a meeting room and schedule mediators and observers, as appropriate.

Once the date, time, location and mediators have been confirmed, the parties will be contacted so that the mediation process and aspects such as good faith and confidentiality can be explained.

Mediations typically begin at 9:00am and are usually held in the ILCRG mediation room. Most mediations last, on average, 4 - 6 hours, however since there is no way to know how long a session will actually last, the parties are asked to set aside an entire day.

Almost any kind of disagreement can be mediated. The ILCRG will mediate any dispute to which a member organization is a party. It may be a disagreement between single individuals or between groups of individuals. Examples of cases that can be mediated include:

• Claims of discrimination or harassment
• Employee-employee relationships
• Employee-supervisor relationships
• Work Team conflicts.

The ILCRG will also mediate disputes involving unfair labor practices (ULP's) grievances and contract grievances.

If you have questions about whether a situation is appropriate for mediation, please call the ILCRG at 206-296-8751.

There is no charge for an ILCRG mediation. Since the mediators are employees of the member agencies, each agency "contributes" a share of the cost of the program by "contributing" a staff member to mediate the cases of other agencies.

No. ILCRG staff assigns mediators to cases based on the availability of the mediators. Since all of our mediators are volunteers, it would be difficult to coordinate the schedules of specific mediators.

No. Mediation does not require that you waive any other right you may have to grieve, arbitrate or litigate a dispute.

On average, a mediation lasts 4 - 6 hours. However, since we don't know at the onset how long a case will take, we ask that parties set aside an entire day for the mediation.

No. Mediation is a voluntary process so you cannot force another party to attend. Your agency contact may be able to assist you in talking to the other party(s) to explain the benefits of attempting to mediate the dispute.

Yes. A party to a mediation can bring an attorney, union representative or other advocate to a mediation.

Most of the mediators in our pool are employees of the public agencies and labor unions that are members of the consortium who have been trained and certified as mediators. We also have many professional mediators who volunteer their services to the consortium.

Mediators come from a wide variety of backgrounds; some are attorneys and some not. Regardless of their background all of the mediators have completed a rigorous training and certification program. In order to preserve confidentiality and impartiality, mediators do not participate in the resolution of disputes originating in their own agency .

In addition to providing mediation services, the ILCRG trains and certifies mediators. As a part of the training process, mediators-in-training are required to observe cases. The observers are not participants in the mediation process. They are there to observe and evaluate the actions and performance of the mediators-not the content of the mediation. Observers are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the mediators.

Mediators are not judges or arbitrators and they will not make a decision regarding your case. The mediators are there to assist the parties in resolving their dispute.

The mediation process utilized by the ILCRG does not include pre-mediation sessions. The first time the mediators will learn details about your dispute is at the mediation session. Not knowing anything about the parties or the issues in dispute before the mediation helps ensure the neutrality of the mediators.

You don't need to bring anything with you to the mediation, such as notes, memos, files, etc. This is not a fact-finding investigation or a court of law-there is no submission of evidence or recording of testimony. The mediators just want you to tell them how the dispute occurred and how you would like it to be resolved. While documents may be important to you and may be the reason for the dispute-they are part of the past and the purpose of the mediation is to help you let go of whatever happened in the past and help you focus on how the future will look.