Curt Micka, J.D.

MEDIATION SERVICES

Workplace Mediation

The math isn't complicated. A complaint that escalates to a lawsuit can easily cost $50,000 to $100,000 and take three to five years to settle. And it doesn't stop there. (Taylor, Robin, Workplace tiffs boosting demand for mediators. National Post Mar. 17/03)

"In the case of harassment, the number of employees seeking help almost tripled between 1999 and 2001. Add absenteeism, employee theft, sabotage, not to mention the cost of employee turnover (estimated to be as much as 75% to 150% of base salary) and it is understandable why companies are paying attention."(Taylor, Robin, Workplace tiffs boosting demand for mediators. National Post Mar. 17/03)

“Sexual harassment is associated with more conflict in work teams, less cohesion and less success in meeting financial goals.” (Kleiman, Carol, Harrassment bad for bottom line, study finds. The Ottawa Citizen: Wednesday Sept. 7/05)

But remember, it doesn't have to be this way!

“Employers are increasingly turning from arbitration in employment disputes, due to the increased costs of discovery, potential for rogue outcomes that cannot be appealed, and uncertainty over whether mandatory arbitration provisions will be upheld. With overtime litigation continuing to increase around the country, many defense lawyers are encouraging clients to turn to mediation instead of arbitration. Wage-and-hour litigation increased over 200% between 2001 and 2007 and overtime lawsuits have displaced employment discrimination as the most common form of employment litigation.”  The National Law Journal (June 9, 2008)

Mediation can be used to resolve both internal and external conflict. With many internal employee-employee or management-employee conflicts, the source of the conflict stems from parties feeling they are not heard, not appreciated, or misunderstood. A mediator is a neutral observer who is not emotionally invested and can get through to the heart of the matter in order to open up discussions as to how to resolve the dispute. In mediation, the parties are voluntarily participating in the process and, as a result, fear and anxiety are greatly reduced.

Conflict Transformation Services can help your business find similar savings by providing confidential and effective workplace mediation services that diffuse conflict before it rises to the level of formal complaints or lawsuits.

Elder care mediation

Conflicts concerning the appropriate medical care and treatment of ailing parents, residential placement issues, division of valued family assets, and much more can cause serious divisions within families. Sometimes these conflicts are based on misunderstandings that can be traced to family dynamics in childhood. Sometimes they arise from real or perceived differences about what's most important, what's wanted, or what's most highly valued.

Typically family members want to maintain positive relationships with one another, but these issues can drive loved ones apart.

CTS can help family members unhook from hurt feelings, dashed expectations, fears and beliefs that these conflicts are and will continue to be divisive and perhaps lead to litigation.

Mediation can help family members reconnect with their common interests and concerns, find ways to re-open damaged communication, and explore possible agreements that work for everyone. It isn't easy. But what's more important?

Mediation of Partnership Disputes

When two or more people go into business together as partners, they often do so with a sense of excitement, commitment, passion, and anticipation. And often they do so focusing only on possibilities, not thinking about those issues that might eventually cause friction, discord, or even drive them apart.

But as in any relationship, differences and disputes arise. It's inevitable. And again, the problem isn't that they have differences. Differences are natural and healthy. It's a question of how they deal with their differences.

All too often, partners quickly come to perceive their differences as irreconcilable. They may turn to legal counsel or law suits. They may quit talking to one another. They may question why they ever agreed to work with the other(s).

It doesn't have to be this way! CTS can help partners find a more effective, less expensive, and often more creative way to resolve their differences and/or disputes. It isn't easy. It requires commitment and intentionality. BUT it can save a partnership. Or at least save the partnership TONS of money in legal fees.

Contact CTS to explore options that might save your partnership, your pocketbook, and tons of emotional and mental distress!

Mediation of parent-child Conflicts

Parent-children differences and conflict is nothing new. Each generation, parents vow not to make the same mistakes their parents made. And each new generation of children seeks to find its way in a world their parents know nothing about.

Mediation between parents and children differs from other types of mediation in that it is still the parents’ job to make the decisions. However, honest input from children (who want parents to make the decisions) may be both surprising, invaluable in guiding parents to make the best decisions possible.

In addition, parent-child mediation is a very effective tool in parent/child communication. A mediator is a neutral facilitator, trained in communication and problem solving skills to help people in conflict work out mutually agreeable solutions. The mediator works as an advocate for all parties in the dispute, helping them to feel validated for their own points of view while assisting them to find validity in other points of view. In light of the conflicts you may experience with your children, this may seem like an impossible task. But remember, most conflicts seem intractable, but with the assistance of a skilled mediator, few are.

Mediatiaon of Condominium disputes

Condo disputes, by definition, call into play the circumstances surrounding where the parties live. Short of divorce or serious bodily injury, what dispute affects us more than a dispute over where we live? And whether the dispute is about parking, the use of common areas, a violation of other rules and regulations of the condo association, or how the board is managing condo association finances and dues/fees, these disputes are often laden with strong emotions.

Mediation offers the opportunity for condo boards and unit owners to achieve what they each need while accomplishing a realistic scenario for moving forward and co-existing. (After all, condo board members also live there!)

Mediation allows the parties to be heard, to understand each others' perspective, and to explore possibilities for resolution that otherwise may have been missed.

With the guidance of an experienced mediator, mediation can help diffuse on-going tensions within a condo community, avoid contentious board elections and/or law suits, and bring people together in new and unexpected ways.

Mediation of Nonprofit organizational disputes

Conflict within nonprofit organizations can prove to be stressful and particularly costly for nonprofit organizations and the individuals that work for and support them.

Whether the dispute involves internal board operations or relationships, differences between boards and their executive director,  volunteer disputes, workplace problems or grievances, mergers with other nonprofit organizations, or disputes between merchants and suppliers, they often result in lost productivity, expensive and time-consuming litigation, and/or loss of valuable, professional relationships and business agreements.

CTS assists nonprofit clients and their staff, executives and supporters in managing, mediating and resolving a wide range of organizational, commercial and workplace-related disputes.