January 16, 2013 - Texas Workforce Commission

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1 and we've shared two ADR scenarios with you in your
2 booklets. And they can be found behind the ADR Tabs.
3 Are there any questions?
4 CHAIRMAN ANDERSON: I think one of the
5 questions or the discussion was -- one of the action
6 items was contingency plans. You've only got two
7 mediators, and one of them quit or -- was out for an
8 extended period of time. How would you handle
9 mediations going forward?
10 MR. BABIAK: We -- we do have the -- the
11 staff member who performs the policy reviews, has
12 received federal government training on mediation.
13 With the retirement of the supervisor in ADR, I've
14 been working with Vickie on benchmarking the existing
15 mediation processes and looking for any opportunities
16 we can find to improve those processes. Part of that
17 plan is to have the policy reviewer sit in with the
18 mediators and observe those processes and be prepared
19 to step in if a need for more mediation arises.
20 CHAIRMAN ANDERSON: Do you see a need
21 for an additional mediator, or do you have sufficient
22 caseload for mediation? Or what's the status there?
23 MR. BABIAK: Right now our -- our
24 biggest challenge on the employment side is that we
25 don't have sufficient intake. We don't have