An employee lodges a grievance. Someone suggests mediation instead. The instinct is often right and the execution is usually poor — because the pause gets handled with a conversation and a nod rather than in writing, and that is how an employee ends up feeling their complaint quietly evaporated.
The Three Things That Must Be in Writing
First: the grievance is paused, not withdrawn. Those are entirely different, and an employee who is asked to withdraw a grievance in order to access mediation is being asked for a concession that should not be required. Second: policy time limits are suspended or extended for the duration, expressly, by someone with authority to do it — because nobody should lose a procedural step by trying to resolve things sensibly, and in a large organisation the authority question is real. Third: if mediation does not resolve matters, the grievance resumes at the stage it had reached — not back at the beginning, and not with any implication that the complaint has been diluted by the attempt. Put those three in an email before anything else happens. They cost nothing, they remove the main reason employees refuse, and their absence is the single most common cause of a mediation that succeeds procedurally and fails completely in the employee’s experience of it.
When Not to Divert — and the Dates That Ignore All of This
A grievance should not be diverted where it alleges matters requiring findings: serious misconduct, harassment on discriminatory grounds, sexual harassment, safety concerns, or anything that would need a determination if upheld. Nor where the employee has considered mediation and wants the formal route — they are entitled to it, and re-offering repeatedly is pressure. And there is a category worth naming plainly: where an employer is proposing mediation primarily because a formal process would be inconvenient or would examine management conduct, that is not a sorting judgement, and it tends to be visible to everyone including the employee. Separately, one thing overrides the whole exercise: statutory time limits for employment claims run independently and are not extended by mediation, by a paused grievance, or by any internal process. They are short. An employee who mediates in good faith for four months and then discovers a complaint is out of time has been very badly served, and it is entirely avoidable — check the dates at the outset, and where a limit is close, protect the position first and mediate afterwards. The full page on grievance and disciplinary interaction is here.
For employees: asking for those three points in writing is entirely reasonable and no employer acting properly will refuse. If yours does refuse, that is useful information about how the process is likely to be run.
A grievance lodged and a decision to make? 01 5827148.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & Mediator
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors (established 1981) and holder of the Law Society of Ireland Diploma in Mediation. The firm also runs a substantial employment practice, which is why the honest sorting question — whether a situation needs a mediation or an investigation — gets answered at the first call rather than halfway through. Workplace mediations are conducted on site, at neutral venues, at The Ormond Building on Ormond Quay, at the Kilkenny office — or fully online. The mediator is appointed by both sides and acts for neither. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn
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.