Guides & Insights

Workplace mediation in Ireland, explained plainly — twenty honest guides.

Process

What Happens in a Workplace Mediation

Individual sessions first, a joint session only if it helps - and no, you do not have to sit in a room with them.

Process

Is Workplace Mediation Confidential?

What the Act protects, what the terms should say, and exactly what reaches a personnel file.

Process

Do I Have to Agree to Mediate at Work?

No. And declining is not misconduct, not an admission, and not a withdrawal of anything.

Process

What a Workplace Mediation Agreement Looks Like

Concrete, forward-looking and short. Why vague agreements fail, and what to put in instead.

Process

Who Pays for Workplace Mediation?

Usually the employer - and why that does not compromise neutrality if the terms are right.

Dignity at Work

The Code of Practice: Informal Resolution First

Why the bullying Code is built around informal resolution, and what that means in practice.

Dignity at Work

Bullying, Harassment & What Mediation Cannot Do

The complaints that must be investigated - and why offering a conversation instead is a serious error.

Dignity at Work

Mediation or Grievance: Which First?

What gets paused, what gets protected, and the three things that must be recorded in writing.

Dignity at Work

The Investigation That Should Have Been a Conversation

The definition trap: how a formal process can conclude nobody was bullied and leave everything worse.

Dignity at Work

After the Investigation - What Then?

Findings resolve an allegation. They do almost nothing for a working relationship.

Employers & HR

Building Mediation Into Your Policies

Most policies say "attempt informal resolution" and stop. Here is what the clause should actually say.

Employers & HR

Neutrality When the Employer Pays

The fear every employee has, and the structural answers that resolve it.

Employers & HR

The Manager Nobody Wants to Report To

Turnover in one team, the same complaints repeating - and why performance managing them rarely works.

Employers & HR

Team Conflict and What It Actually Costs

Work routed around people, decisions escalated, good people quietly leaving. None of it in any budget.

Employers & HR

Return to Work After Long Absence

A return into an unchanged situation is a return that does not last.

Escalation & Exit

Workplace Mediation Before the WRC

What a complaint does to a dispute - and the time limits that do not pause for anyone.

Escalation & Exit

When the Relationship Is Actually Over

The exit dressed up as a mediation - and why conflating the two serves nobody.

Escalation & Exit

Protected Disclosures: What Must Not Be Mediated

A distinct statutory regime, and one of the most serious errors an employer can make.

Escalation & Exit

Senior People and Quiet Resolutions

Where the ordinary machinery does not fit and the story travels regardless.

Escalation & Exit

Choosing a Workplace Mediator

Four questions worth more than any directory listing - starting with whether they will tell you not to mediate.

General information, not legal advice. This website contains general information about workplace mediation and Irish law. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor—client relationship. Every workplace situation turns on its own facts, and advice on yours requires a consultation.

The mediator is not your legal adviser. Where Mary Molloy Solicitors is appointed as mediator, the mediator is neutral: the mediator acts for no party, advises no party, makes no findings and decides nothing. This is so regardless of which party is paying the fee. All participants are encouraged to take independent legal advice, and in particular to take advice before signing any agreement reached in mediation. Employees may wish to seek advice from their own solicitor or trade union. The firm does not act as mediator in any matter in which it acts, or has acted, for a party — conflicts are checked before any appointment is accepted.

Mediation is not a substitute for a required process. Some matters must be investigated rather than mediated, including allegations of serious misconduct, matters engaging health and safety duties, and protected disclosures. Nothing on this site suggests that mediation should displace an employer’s statutory obligations, a grievance or disciplinary procedure where one is required, or a complainant’s entitlement to have a complaint formally investigated or to bring proceedings.

Fees. Fees for mediation are agreed in writing before the mediation begins, and fees for legal services are agreed in writing with the client at the outset. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.

Tax. Nothing on this website is tax advice. Where any payment or arrangement has tax consequences, those questions belong with your accountant or tax adviser and with Revenue’s own guidance, and are best addressed before anything is signed.