The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Mediation Participants' Experience in Online Mediation and Comparison to In-Person Mediation

What Matters to Employment Attorneys When Considering Online or In‐Person Mediation?

“…There were also changes in party perceptions of the mediator's neutrality: a 4% drop observed by charging parties and a 5% increase observed by employers. There were statistically significant increases in reported satisfaction with the fairness of the online mediation process as compared to in‐person mediation (from a mean of 4.19 in 2000, to 4.39 in 2021), and in overall satisfaction with online mediation results (from a mean of 3.52 in 2000, to 3.87 in 2021) (McDermott & Obar, 2022b, p. 10). It is unclear whether these variations can be attributed to the mediation format or to changes in the EEOC mediation program over the two‐decade period.…”

“…In a second study of EEOC roster mediators conducted from July 2021 to September 2021, mediators rated online mediation as more flexible than in‐person mediation, reporting that it was easier to schedule sessions, share documents, and join key parties to the process (McDermott & Obar, 2022a).…”

“…Mediators perceived less of a power imbalance in online mediation, possibly because the charging parties were in their home environments and had less fear of being in the same location as the employers (McDermott & Obar, 2022a). The settlement rates of in‐person and online mediation were comparable to EEOC data for in‐person mediations in previous years (70.9% for online and 71.9% for in‐person).…”

“…In addition, 20% of charging parties reported a desire to not be in the same location as the other participants as a reason for preferring online mediation, whereas only 7% of employers and their representatives noted this issue (McDermott & Obar, 2022b). In open-ended comments, some reported concerns about Covid-19 safety as a reason for preferring online mediation.…”