Not every workplace situation should be fixed. Sometimes the employment relationship has genuinely ended in everything but paperwork, and everyone involved knows it. What matters then is not pretending otherwise — because an exit conducted as though it were a mediation serves nobody and exposes the employer.
The Exit Dressed Up as a Mediation
It happens often enough to be a pattern. A mediation is convened, the individual sessions establish fairly quickly that neither person can see a workable future, and by the afternoon the conversation has quietly become one about notice, terms, a reference and a waiver of claims. That is a settlement negotiation, and calling it a mediation does not change what it is. The problem is not that it happened — that outcome can be entirely right — but that it happened without the protections a settlement requires: each party properly advised, genuine independent advice for the employee before signing, careful drafting about exactly what claims are being given up, and time to consider rather than a decision at the end of a long emotional day. An employee who signs away statutory claims in those circumstances has a real argument later about whether it was properly done, and an employer that arranged it that way has manufactured a problem it did not need. The right response is to stop and re-frame openly: this is now an exit discussion, everyone needs their own advice, and it should be conducted as such. That belongs with settlementagreementsolicitor.ie, or where the departure is a redundancy, redundancysolicitors.ie.
Where Mediation Still Earns Its Place Around a Departure
Considerably more than people expect, and this is the part usually skipped. Once the exit terms are being handled properly and separately, there is a set of questions that no settlement agreement addresses and that materially affect how badly a departure goes: how a notice period is actually worked without further conflict, or whether it should be; what is said internally, agreed by both, because the version that circulates otherwise is assembled from speculation and is rarely kind to anyone; what is said to clients, customers or external contacts; how a handover happens, which frequently requires the departing person to cooperate with someone they are in conflict with; what happens at the point of leaving, practically; and, in small professional markets, how two people who will encounter each other again leave things. Those are real, and doing them well is the difference between a departure that closes a chapter and one that generates a reference dispute, a defamation complaint or a claim six months later. What that is not is a way of negotiating the exit itself under a different name — the two run in parallel, with the terms handled by advisers on each side. The full exclusions page is here.
For employees: if you go into something described as a mediation and the conversation turns to leaving, terms or signing anything, you are entitled to stop and take advice before going further. Nobody should be asked to make that decision in the room, and any process that pressures you to is not one you should be in.
Not sure which of the two this actually is? 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.