An employee is fired. The grounds are not strong. He agrees to mediation.

Actually you have a subjective sympathy for him but you know that this cannot blur your judgement. You know you have to remain neutral but you do feel he has been manipulated.

The firm is willing to pay compensation – not enough but still a tidy sum for a 9 month employee. The firm want the mediation to finish. It is a distraction + they have other business issues that need to be addressed. To create momentum towards a settlement, the company increase their offer to £15,000 + propose that they use their influence to help find the employee a job elsewhere.

You are reflecting on their offer of help. Does it have any value? Isn’t it just a “best endeavours” proposal without teeth. The employee says the job offer is more important than a further £2,500 that you think you can extract from the company but how can you turn a promise to help the employee to find a job into a binding commitment to secure him employment.
Dig deep and come up with some suggestions?
Arbitration Topic Tomorrow