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Agencies designing mediation programs could learn a lesson from the Postal Service, according to a new report from the IBM Center for the Business of Government.

REDRESS, an alternative dispute resolution program begun in 1994, has helped reduce the number of formal discrimination complaints filed by Postal Service employees, the IBM report said. Complaints dropped to 9,612 in 2002, a 31 percent decrease from a peak of 14,000 in 1997.

REDRESS started on a pilot basis in 1994. By 1999, the Postal Service expanded the program to cover more than 800,000 employees across the country. REDRESS encourages postal workers to participate in mediation during the informal, counseling stage of equal opportunity employment cases. The program is available to employees alleging discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

When designing REDRESS, the Postal Service developed innovative methods of gauging the program's success. Agencies typically use statistics on numbers of complaints settled through mediation to assess whether alternative dispute resolution programs are working, IBM said.

But the Postal Service decided that participation in the mediation program is a better indicator, since settlement is not the direct goal of alternative dispute resolution, according to the report. The actual goal of mediation is to get employees talking, the report said. "It is hoped that the process may provide an opportunity for participants to resolve their conflict, but that is not the mediator's objective."

By creating incentives to increase the number of cases settled through mediation, agencies also run the risk of staff routing complex cases, potentially difficult to settle, away from mediation.

"With participation rate as the target [at the Postal Service], it did not matter whether anyone believed mediation had any likelihood of success," the report explained. "The goal was simply to get people to talk to each other in a safe, private environment."

REDRESS managers set a starting goal of convincing 70 percent of employees offered mediation to accept. After surpassing this target, the Postal Service set a goal of 75 percent. The participation rate has now reached 82 percent.

The Postal Service does keep records of cases closed through mediation, or settled shortly after alternative dispute resolution attempts end, the report noted. These statistics show that from 70 to 80 percent of Postal Service cases referred to mediation are typically closed without an employee filing formal discrimination charges.

Legal E-filing

The Merit Systems Protection Board now allows electronic filing of appeals and other courtroom documents.

Appellants can visit the MSPB Web site to file online. Those taking advantage of the electronic system receive a password and can log into and out of the system at will, saving their work as they go. This allows appellants to complete forms in several sittings.

Once forms are complete and a case opens before the board, parties can exchange other courtroom documents electronically.

"Since a large proportion of the parties who appear before the MSPB are nonattorneys, MSPB constructed the e-filing process so that it requires little in the way of specialized equipment, software or expertise," MSPB said in a statement announcing the electronic system.

While electronic filing is not mandatory, the MSPB said it expects the new system to result in a "general improvement in efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness to the federal community."

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