This letter highlights the purpose of the EEO Mediation program and the most important aspects of the actual mediation program and related Rules. See the full Text of the Rules and the ADR Consortium brochure. This letter is to advise you that recently a voluntary EEO Mediation Program has been established which makes EEO Mediators available to you and other EEO litigants having lawsuits pending in the Northern District. Mediation is a voluntary process in which a neutral third party assists the parties in resolving their dispute. The mediator has no authority to impose a settlement and the parties are under no obligation to reach as agreement.
Any settlement achieved in a mediation is therefore voluntary.
The mediator may, but need not, suggest settlement terms. Mediation proceedings are generally private and confidential, and the substance of the discussions in a mediation are generally privileged. This letter is also to ascertain whether you desire to submit your case for resolution through the voluntary mediation program. The EEO mediation program also provides for the mediation of certain evidentiary discovery disputes. There is also a research component as well as an actual EEO mediation program component to this ADR initiative.