Since a number of my readers volunteer as mediators in various Small Claims courts, an upcoming change to credit reporting should be of interest. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that effective in the beginning of July 2017 the three major credit-reporting firms (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) will remove civil judgment data if they don't include the person's complete name, address, social security number or date of birth. 

As most judgments don't show all of this information, the effect is that a judgment in Small Claims Court will no longer appear on a person's credit report. This change also applies to existing records.

How does this change Small Claims Court mediation? Mediators will no longer be able to say to defendants that a court judgment will appear on their credit reports, which until now has been one of the major ways that people were motivated to select mediation and work toward a settlement in order to avoid the negative credit rating.

Undoubtedly, mediators will need to stress to their clients the other positive benefits of the service they provide. 

I recently read a 2016 study by Australian researchers published in the "International Journal of Conflict Management" that helps understand how manager and supervisors can help employees resolve their own conflicts on the job.

The study states:

• Managers can identify employee conflicts early and intervene to minimize their escalation into conflicts which can harm productivity.
• Managers who encourage the use problem-solving collaboration have the greatest positive impact.
• Managers and supervisors should not be reluctant to intervene in employees disputes.