The Labour Dispute & Mediation Centre
Alternative dispute resolution specialists
The Dispute Resolution Firm & Mediation Centre
The Dispute Resolution Firm & Mediation Centre offers a variety of alternative dispute resolution services to suit your unique and specific circumstances. Below are the alternative dispute resolution services offered:Disciplinary Hearing Fixed Fee Special
Suited to small and large companies alike, the Fixed Fee Disciplinary Hearing Special provides the services of labour law specialist as an Independent Chairperson for a fixed fee that covers the pre-hearing preparation, the Disciplinary Hearing, and the Disciplinary Hearing Report with the finding (guilty or not guilty) and the sanction recommendation. It makes sense to outsource and obtain a neutral, experienced arbitrator to do the job for you in a way which protects your company from further legal referrals. Disciplinary chairpersons hear the evidence and decide, based on principles of law and fairness, if the employee is guilty or not and if so, what the appropriate sanction should be.
ADRWhat is alternative dispute resolution?
Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") refers to any means of settling disputes outside of the courtroom. ADR typically includes early neutral evaluation, negotiation, conciliation, mediation, and arbitration.DisputeWhat is Mediation?
Mediation is generally defined as the process by which someone tries to end a disagreement by helping the two sides to talk about and agree on a solution.
A mediator is a neutral third party, generally a person who is not directly involved in the dispute or the substantive issues in question. This is a critical factor in conflict...
The disputants must be willing to allow a third party to enter the dispute and assist them in developing proposals and reaching a solution. Acceptability does not necessarily...
Intervention implies entering into an ongoing system of relationships, to come between or among persons, groups, or objects to help them. It is important to realise that the...
For mediation to occur, the participants must begin talking or negotiating. In workplace conflict, labour and management must be willing to hold bargaining sessions, in business, business...
Voluntary - You can leave at any time for any reason, or no reason. Collaborative - As no participant in mediation can impose anything on anyone, everyone is motivated to work...
A mediator has no authoritative decision-making power; he or she cannot unilaterally mandate or force parties to resolve their differences and enforce the decision. This...
Our definition states that a mediator assists disputing parties. Assistance can refer to very general or highly specific activities. Here follows some of the more general roles...
The last component of the definition describes mediation as a voluntary process to reach a mutually acceptable settlement of issues in dispute. Voluntary generally refers to both...
Accreditations & Memberships
Our accreditation process ensures that our certification practices are acceptable
Gerrie is in private practice as a family mediator previously having served as the Chairman on the Executive Committee of Family Mediators’ Association of the Cape (FAMAC)
Gerrie van der Watt
M.Phil. Labour Law (UCT), Dispute Settlement and Mediation (USB)
He is a Commercial Mediator accredited with the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (CD/ACDS) with UK international accreditation (CEDR).
Gerrie van der Watt
M.Phil. Labour Law (UCT), Dispute Settlement and Mediation (USB)
In addition, he also serves as a panellist on the Arbitration Forum of Southern Africa (AFSA) and he is a member of the Arbitration Forum of South Africa
Gerrie van der Watt
M.Phil. Labour Law (UCT), Dispute Settlement and Mediation (USB)
BlogNews, Info & Videos
Browse the latest articles and info from our blog. Includes News, Information and Videos.
I have no idea what I will do when I go to mediate a matter. After 30 years of practice the only thing I know is that the parties are stuck and if...
If men hate each other, then there’s no hope. We will all be victims of that hate. We will slaughter each other in wars we don’t want and for which...
Decision-making is an integral part of conflict resolution. Any decisions taken at any level during the resolution process must consider all the...
While it is true that lawyers are eminently trained in the art of negotiating by virtue of the rigors of their profession, arguably some have...