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146: Access to mediation services
or “You need to get in touch with the employment office if you want help sorting out work problems.”
You could also call this:

“The person in charge of mediation decides how to handle problems and help people work things out.”

When you get mediation services, the person providing the services decides what kind of help is best for your situation. This person can use different ways to help solve the problem quickly and effectively, keeping in mind what the law is trying to achieve and what you need.

The mediator can offer services where you and the other party agree beforehand to limit the mediation to a certain amount of time. If you can’t solve the problem in that time, you’ll use a different process to fix it.

The mediator can help you solve problems early on. They might even talk to you alone if you ask them to, without anyone else there. They can receive any kind of information or material that they think will help, even if it wouldn’t be allowed in court.

The mediator gets to choose how to run things. They might talk to you without your representative there. They might tell you what they think about the issues in your case, with or without your representative or the other party there. They can also tell you what they think about how you’re handling the problem or the position you’ve taken, again with or without others present.

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Next up: 148: Confidentiality

or “This rule says that people must keep secrets about what happens during mediation, except in special cases.”
Next

Part 10 Institutions
Mediation services

147Procedure in relation to mediation services

  1. Where mediation services are provided, the person who provides the services decides what services are appropriate to the particular case.

  2. That person, in providing those services,—

  3. may, having regard to the object of this Act and the needs of the parties, follow such procedures, whether structured or unstructured, or do such things as he or she considers appropriate to resolve the problem or dispute promptly and effectively; and
    1. may offer mediation services on the basis that, prior to the commencement of a mediation, the parties have agreed—
      1. that the services will be limited to a specified time; and
        1. if the problem is not resolved within the specified time, the parties will resolve the problem by using the process in section 150 (with any necessary modifications); and
        2. may assist the parties to resolve a problem at an early stage, including, at the request of a party, discussing the problem with that party without any representative of that party being present; and
          1. may receive any information, statement, admission, document, or other material, in any way that he or she thinks fit, whether or not it would be admissible in judicial proceedings.

            1. To avoid doubt, the person who provides the services also decides the procedures that will be followed, which may include—

            2. addressing any party to the matter without any representative of that party being present:
              1. expressing to any party his or her views on the substance of 1 or more of the issues between the parties—
                1. with or without any representative of the party being present:
                  1. with or without any other party or parties to the matter being present:
                  2. expressing to any party his or her views on the process the party is following or the position the party has adopted about the employment relationship problem—
                    1. with or without any representative of the party being present:
                      1. with or without any other party or parties to the matter being present.

                      Notes
                      • Section 147(2)(ab): inserted, on , by section 50(1) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 86).
                      • Section 147(2)(ac): inserted, on , by section 21 of the Employment Relations Amendment Act 2010 (2010 No 125).
                      • Section 147(3): added, on , by section 50(2) of the Employment Relations Amendment Act (No 2) 2004 (2004 No 86).