About Don Phin

Today’s employment law system is an ineffective and inefficient means towards solving workplace conflict.  Litigating workplace disputes is a lose/lose proposition that benefits lawyers and few else.  Fact is, the "threat" of litigation should not be the driving force behind improved employee relationships.

Employees and management who become involved in lawsuits have lessons to learn, but they will never learn these lessons by fighting with each other.  At best, such a response results in compromise and at worse destruction.  Seldom, if ever, does it result in resolution.  This is a weak link in the litigation system because lessons are repeated until learned.

Most lawsuits are the result of employees focusing on blame and employers focusing on justification.  Most lawsuits and other failures could be avoided if we instead focus on personal and organizational responsibility and integrity.

Plaintiffs who receive money as a result of a settlement or trial victory often lose that money within a few years. This is because money does nothing more than make people more of whom they already are.  The odds of finding a person in any "protected" category that has benefited in life because of filing a lawsuit is remote.  Employees must begin taking responsibility for enduring work environments where they are not respected.  They must learn to break free from fear and silence and speak up and take action.  They must learn to let go of any pain they have, because until they do they will not be able to heal.  They must be able to forgive because someday they will need to be forgiven.  The truth is, on most occasions, their greatest remedy is not playing a victim role but rather in getting an education and “moving on”.

Companies involved in lawsuits must stop justifying inexcusable conduct and start taking responsibility too.  The majority of time claims come about because of a poorly managed personnel system, not because people do not want to do their jobs.  Companies must first ask themselves, “How could we allow this to happen and how can we become responsible for making sure it never happens again?”  They should consider ways to compensate employees subject to improper conduct by a manager or fellow employee who just “doesn’t get it,” without having a lawyer, judge or jury tell them how to do so.

Today’s employment laws are adding new layers of complexity to an already complex area - managing people.   Rather than focusing on simple, common sense solutions, we have designed irrational and complex ones – which by their very nature often generate more confusion than insight.  If we are to grow and become responsible, our focus has to be on building powerful employment relationships.  We have to focus on win/win, rather than win/lose or lose/lose.  We have to build our collective character as opposed to beating it down.

According to a report issued by the Federal Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations, one of the most significant barriers to achieving the goals of the 21st century workplace is “the frustration that managers experience in trying to respond to complex workplace regulations and mounting litigation, and that workers experience in trying to enforce their legal rights on the job”.  The Commission’s recommendation was to provide workers and managers with the tools and flexibility to replace the command and control system of regulation, and the litigious system for enforcing rights, with opportunities for greater self-governance and private, high quality, dispute resolution.  Amen!

Statistics tell us that most litigation attorneys don’t enjoy what they’re doing.  Evidence of this is the fact that many disability companies won’t insure litigators because so many are going out on stress claims.  Other insurance companies won’t insure the very firms they rely on for advice against employment practices claims.  This further evidences a real need for change.

Fortunately, there are enough executives, human resource professionals and attorneys interested in finding or developing a "better way".  The litigation system as it currently exists is doomed for eventual collapse. 

For our part, the following steps are being taken based on these values and beliefs:

• The development of products and services that incorporate the win/win philosophy, the concept of individual responsibility and strategies rooted in systemic and organizational thinking.  We will license these tools to attorneys, insurance agencies, consultants and associations who can then share them with their growing base of clients, customers and members.
• The development of the Chief Relationship Officer Forum™, for senior human resource professionals, where best practices can be studied, discussed and modeled in a confidential and nurturing environment.
• The sharing of legal and management best practices and win/win success stories through industry publications, association conferences, web sites and public speaking.
• Constant improvement of the HR That Works! program we offer to reduce risk exposures, increase productivity and enhance the bottom-line.
• Alignment with partners and providers interested in creating value added, win/win risk management strategies.

It's time to get back to work.  See you on the road to success...

Donald A. Phin, Esq.
President
Employer Advisors Network, Inc.

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