Workers

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Workers' Compensation
Mediation Program

During the September 1998 term, the Supreme Court of Appeals implemented its own Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) pilot program for workers' compensation appeals under the leadership of then-Chief Justice Robin Jean Davis.

The Workers' Compensation Mediation Program has two parts. The first part is in-house mediation. The second part is a series of monthly settlement week conferences. The Court selects certain cases for mandatory mediation, but all represented parties can opt for mediation.

Of the 370 cases selected for the program in the final six months of 1998, 182 were actually mediated. Of those mediated, 100 cases, or 55 percent, were settled. The pilot program surpassed its mediation goal. In December 1998, the Court voted to continue this successful program under Justice Davis' leadership.

The program's success has continued during the first quarter of 1999. Of the 277 cases mediated during the first quarter of 1999, 116 cases, or 42 percent, were settled. Fifty-nine cases, or 21 percent, are continuing.

Mediation is particularly needed for workers' compensation appeals. West Virginia is unique because it is only one of six states where workers' compensation appeals come directly to a state's highest court from the administrative agency. West Virginia is also the busiest appellate court of its type in the country. In 1998, 3,415 petitions for appeal were filed in the Supreme Court. Workers' compensation appeals accounted for 2,067, or 60 percent, of these filings.

The nature of workers' compensation cases also is well-suited to mediation, as other states, such as Ohio, have found. As Justice Davis explained, “Mediation returns control to the parties. Employers and employees can resolve their differences on their own, which fosters better labor-management relationships in the future.”

As a result of the Court's successful mediation program, the Workers' Compensation Office of Judges began a mediation program of its own. The first mediation was conducted in March 1999.

Mediation has been widely supported by the Workers' Compensation Commission, the Office of Judges, Bureau of Employment Programs Commissioner William Vieweg, and the West Virginia State Bar. The oversight committee for the Court's Mediation Program, which is comprised of representatives from these groups, will make its next report to the Court in July 1999.