Mediation and Mobbing. How Can Mediation Be Used in Employment Law Cases and How Can It Be Taught Effectively?

Abstract

In view of the legislative work to change the definition of mobbing and the findings of the research, which indicate that a significant number of people, especially young people gaining their first work experience, encounter mobbing behavior in the workplace, the author of the study poses the question: what mechanisms can effectively educate, counteract and respond to unethical phenomena such as mobbing in labor law cases? The author conducts an overview of the issue, formulating the thesis that mediation is one of the appropriate legal institution for solving the problem of mobbing and should be more widely used in the cases concerned and, at the same time, promoted in education, including, but not limited to, clinical legal education. The purpose of this paper is to analyse mediation in mobbing cases, its application, its legal and social nature, and to consider its wider dissemination in university education. The article focuses in particular on the situation of those gathering their first professional experience, and on this basis it calls for the introduction of new solutions into university education. The considerations encompass both legal application practice and legal-sociological perspectives. While the article’s primary focus is on Poland, it also incorporates a comparative lens. The research methodology employed is grounded in the paradigm of non-reactive research, encompassing content analysis and extant information, including literature studies pertaining to the research area and official statistics.