Anti-Discrimination
Conciliation at a commission
Authors: Staff Legal Eagle
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 21 Oct 2014
- The commission will organise a conciliation for the parties to attend to discuss the matter.
- What happens in a conciliation may change slightly depending on which state or territory you are in.
- Conciliation is a separate and independent process from the complaint procedure.
- If conciliation fails and you go back to the complaints procedure anything that you discussed in the conciliation cannot be used in the complaints procedure unless both parties explicitly agree.
- Parties will meet with a conciliator. This can be face to face, over the phone or via letters or emails.
- Parties can bring a support person or a lawyer to conciliation but only if the commission agrees. Someone else such as a lawyer cannot represent you in the conciliation unless the commission believes that it is necessary.
- The conciliator will meet privately with each party beforehand to make sure you both understand the aims and process of conciliation.
- You can call breaks during the conciliation whenever you want to have thinking time. You may also need to postpone the conciliation if you need a larger amount of thinking time such as time to do research.
- Conciliation is not compulsory. However a person may be instructed by the commission to attend a compulsory conference. If they don’t attend they may be found guilty of an offence.
- Conciliation is quicker and cheaper than going to a court or tribunal.
- No binding decision will be made at conciliation and there will be no decision about who is right or wrong.
- If an agreement is reached between you and the other party it will be written down and both parties given a copy. In most jurisdictions another copy is given to the state or territory tribunal. It then becomes legally enforceable as though it was a decision of the tribunal.
- Think about whether you want to keep your agreement confidential. Also think about whether you want it to admit any wrongdoing. For example the agreement can read “without any admissions of liability the respondent agrees to…”
- The following tips will help you get the most out if a conciliation:
- you should prepare for conciliation by thinking about what you require in order to resolve the matter. It is better to have a few possible options you could agree to rather than just one;
- if you are a big organization send someone who is a good communicator. Make sure they are familiar with the situation and do not have bad blood with the other party; and
- if you are not feeling confident a support person can help you interpret information and can be useful to discuss issues with in the breaks.
- During the conciliation:
- only speak one at a time;
- treat the other party and the conciliator with respect;
- do not raise voice your voice or shout;
- abusive language and aggressive behaviour is unacceptable;
- you are not permitted to cross-examine the other party;
- do not make personal attacks;
- remain calm and be open to ideas for resolving the dispute;
- respondents should show they are listening to the complainant and taking their complaint seriously; and
- if you are the respondent show the complainant what changes you have made since the incident. Some things that may help include:
- an apology,
- evidence of new policies,
- training about appropriate behavior, and
- offers of compensation.
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