When It’s Time To Do Battle With Your Company
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The company you’ve worked at for over 20 years just gave you a pink slip. They’ve politely couched your dismissal by telling you they were under financial pressure and difficult choices had to be made. But you don’t think your performance has slipped one bit and suspect the only reason you’re getting the heave-ho now is because you’re over 50 and earn a handsome salary. Maybe you have a different beef with your employer. You’re an African American who has been repeatedly passed over for a promotion, even though your sales numbers consistently top the department. Or you’re a woman whose problems can be traced back to when you rejected your boss’s advances. Perhaps you’re just squabbling over a performance review or bonus. If you think you have been fired without cause, sexually harassed, discriminated against, or are the victim of a less heinous infraction, who can you confide in–especially if you’re not represented by a union? You could go to court or file charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or state human rights commissions. But court battles and agency claims may take years, and lawyers are expensive. OUT OF COURT. There is another option: Many companies are instituting so-called alternative dispute resolution, or ADR, which is a formalized program. The entire process is sped up because court is avoided. Alcoa, Brown & Root, Fairchild Aircraft, Levi Strauss, and BUSINESS WEEK’s parent, The McGraw-Hill Companies, are a few of the employers that have, or are in the process of implementing, an ADR program. Although ADR plans vary, many incorporate an open-door policy in which workers having problems with a supervisor can talk to other managers up the ladder. Some companies gather up a panel of your peers to hear a complaint. But most programs rely on mediation (a third party works with all individuals to devise a solution) and, as a last resort, arbitration (an arbitrator hears competing arguments and imposes a final solution), to try to resolve complaints quickly, confidentially, and impartially. More : businessweek.com |