🪙Two weeks ago, I wrote about my experience that NZ’s Dispute Resolution process is broken. I now think the first step - mediation - is buckling and looking like a bent coin
🫷 Mediation is supposed to be the fast, fair, and free way to resolve employment disputes in New Zealand. It’s voluntary, confidential, and designed to keep things out of court. But what happens when the system meant to provide timely resolutions is itself in crisis?
🫸 Right now, the Employment Mediation Service under MBIE is drowning. After recent government changes, they’ve lost their chief mediator, four senior mediators, and four additional mediators. The result? A staggering backlog of 487 cases and wait times stretching 12 weeks or more
📖 For those who lodged cases in December or January, mediation dates are only now being offered - for April or May. That’s a four-to-five-month wait for something that’s supposed to be a quick alternative to litigation. While disputes involving current employees are being prioritized (with a three-week turnaround), everyone else is stuck in limbo
🤨 So, is this just an Auckland issue? Nope. Reports from all over suggest delays across the board. Mediation, once the go-to solution for resolving workplace disputes quickly and efficiently, is failing those who need it most
🫢 If the system isn’t fixed soon, employees and employers alike will have no choice but to escalate their disputes - meaning more cases clogging up the already overburdened legal system. What was meant to ease conflict is now making it worse
🔦 Have you been affected by the delays? Share your experiences. It’s time to shine a light on a system that’s buckling under pressure.
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