Commissioner Moves to Formalize Mediation Rules, With ALJs as Mediators

The Kentucky Department of Workers' Claims is accepting comments and may hold a hearing on a proposed system of mediation that would ask administrative law judges to serve as mediators. State law passed in 2010 required a mediation program, but formal rules have not been proposed until now. Chief Administrative Law Judge Douglas Gott has been informally mediating claims for the past few years, and the response has been “highly positive,” department Commissioner Robert Swisher said in a recent memo. Under the proposed, formal rules, the chief judge would designate one...