SUBJECT: Management Briefing: Employee Dispute Resolution Program 

Unfortunately, when UPS employees encounter serious problems or conflicts in the workplace, the Open Door Policy of providing the freedom to express concerns to management is not always sufficient to reach a satisfying resolution.
To provide additional options for reaching agreements in such cases, UPS is rolling out a new Employee Dispute Resolution (EDR). Beginning May 4, 1998, EDR will provide for a five-step dispute resolution process available to all management and union-free employees.

The following communication is intended to increase management's understanding of the new EDR Program. A PCM is scheduled for the week ending March 7 to explain the EDR Program to all union-free employees, and our management people will need to be prepared to answer questions about EDR. Please ensure that the PCM is not presented to any Teamsters-represented work groups.

Please distribute this Management Briefing to your entire management team. If you have any questions concerning the EDR program, please contact Kevin Strahan of the Corporate Employee Relations Department at ATLAS 490-4054. 

Introduction:

Today, if a union-free UPS employee has a workplace dispute, he or she begins with the Open Door Policy. Unfortunately, if the matter remains unsettled after exhausting this process, further options are limited. When options for resolving workplace conflicts are limited, problems can escalate and result in lower morale, increased turnover, reduced productivity, damaged working relationships, or even time-consuming, costly lawsuits.

To help remedy this situation, UPS examined processes other companies use to resolve workplace disputes. Known as alternative dispute resolution (ADR), these processes include a variety of formal and informal programs designed to help parties resolve their conflicts outside of the court system. Such processes have proved successful in gaining employee trust and helping to resolve disputes quickly, fairly, and economically.

UPS adapted some of the best features of these processes to our people's needs. The result is the new, five-step Employee Dispute Resolution Program (EDR), which was successfully piloted at UPS in 1997. Beginning May 4, 1998, EDR will be available to all UPS management and union-free administrative, technical, and specialist employees.

Benefits of the EDR process:
UPS EDR provides a forum for resolving disputes:
* At the lowest possible level
* Confidentially, quickly, and without retaliation
* Potentially with less cost and with less damage to workplace relationships

Step One: Open Door
The Open Door step provides an opportunity for employees to raise and resolve disputes early. Employees are encouraged to bring concerns to their supervisors, but they have the right to bring concerns to any management person. Human Resources is responsible for ensuring that employees face no retaliation for using this process.

Step Two: Facilitation
Region Employee Relations Managers are the key facilitators of the EDR Program. They guide employees through EDR and helps them understand the entire process. The Region ERM does not make judgments on the merits of disputes nor render a decision; he or she simply helps both sides decide the best way to settle the dispute.

Step Three: Optional Peer Review
The third step is Optional Peer Review, which can provide a means of resolving a dispute without outside intervention. If an employee requests a Peer Review, the employee and a company representative present their sides of the dispute to a three-member panel of fellow UPSers. Two members are selected by the employee, one by the company. After listening to all the facts and deliberating among themselves, the three-member panel recommends a solution. The Peer Review step is optional and the panel's recommendation is non-binding. Peer Review panel members are volunteers who are specially trained in effective listening skills, the importance of confidentiality, and the requirement to make fair and impartial recommendations.

Step Four: Mediation
Mediation is a meeting in which a neutral outside mediator helps the parties find a solution that both parties mutually agree on. The mediator does not impose judgment on the parties, but helps them decide for themselves whether to settle, and on what terms. The employee and the company are free to accept or reject these suggestions. If agreement is reached, the parties will enter into a written settlement agreement.
 
 

Step Five: Optional Arbitration
If a dispute has not been resolved by mediation, the employee may choose arbitration as the final step. Although arbitration has been around for some time, it is a relatively new way of resolving non-union employee disputes. Like mediation, arbitration involves an outside, neutral third party. However, unlike a mediator, an arbitrator renders a final and legally binding decision.

Arbitration is an orderly proceeding conducted in accordance with established rules of procedure and legal principles. In arbitration, there is no jury. If the employee wins, he or she can be awarded any remedy they might be awarded by a court of law, including back pay, reinstatement, attorney's fees and punitive damages.

Conclusion:
Our hope is that no employee should ever experience a serious problem at UPS. But because misunderstanding and conflicts may arise in such a large, diverse workforce, UPS has established an Employee Dispute Resolution Program to ensure fair, constructive, and effective options for everyone involved.

Over the next few weeks, you will be receiving a presentation and other information describing the EDR program in detail. Should you have any questions or concerns before then, please contact your District Human Resources Department.

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