As a business owner, you may be concerned about the potential costs and difficulties involved with any kind of serious litigation. However, in many cases, business mediation can offer a preferable alternative that can allow you to settle your differences with employees, partners, or other businesses out of court. Here are five things you need to know about business mediation:
- You can settle many types of legal issues through business mediation
-
-
- For many people, business mediation offers a helpful form of alternative dispute resolution that allows them to settle their differences in a private setting. These include things like labor disputes, business contract disputes, discrimination claims, and other similar problems. This does not mean mediation will work for everyone, but it may be a viable method of dispute resolution for more situations than most people realize.
-
- Business mediation is generally less formal than litigation
-
-
- Many people prefer mediation to formal litigation due to the simple fact that it has far less formal rules than you might find when going to court. While mediation does have some guidelines that are set forward by the mediator, you do not need to worry about things like court filings or the rules of evidence. This allows both sides to speak more freely to come to a consensus.
-
- Mediation is less costly and time-consuming than a lawsuit
-
-
- One of the major reasons that business mediation is popular is that, quite simply, it tends to cost far less than it does to bring a lawsuit against someone. It is also generally far less time consuming, with most mediations being resolved within a few weeks, or a handful of months at most. This is far often preferable to many people, rather than potentially needing to spend years arguing a legal case in court.
-
- Mediation agreements are non-binding
-
-
- At the end of the business mediation process, both sides work together with the mediator to come up with an agreement that they will follow afterwards. However, these agreements are not legally binding, meaning neither side is obligated to follow it if they do not like its terms. This ensures that even if a mediation goes poorly, you will not be trapped in an agreement you do not like.
-
- You can still pursue a lawsuit, if all else fails
-
- Pursuing business mediation does not exclude you from trying to exercise your rights in court later. This means that if things go poorly, you can still exercise your full legal rights and seek justice through the courts. Thus, there is often relatively little cost to attempting to handle your dispute through mediation, even if it ultimately does not go how you would like it to.
If you have an employment issue, give the Law Office of Andrew Ross Sack a call. Andrew Ross Sack is a New York and New Jersey employment lawyer who has considerable experience in handling the many aspects of labor and employment law. To schedule a consultation with New York City/Long Island/Westchester employment lawyer Andrew Ross Sack, call (516) 526-3319 or visit his contact page.
