Informal resolution is an underutilized superpower in your school’s Title IX repertoire, poised to confront allegations of sex discrimination with precision and care. Informal resolution can be faster, less stressful, and more student-centered than the formal Title IX grievance procedures—and it’s available whether your state is under the 2020 or the 2024 rules.   

Informal resolution encompasses a broad spectrum of conflict resolution strategies, including, for instance, facilitated dialogue, facilitated negotiation or exchange of offers of resolution, mediation, and restorative or transformative justice techniques.  

When can you use informal resolution? 

So long as both parties agree, informal resolution can be initiated any time before a determination is made, beginning with a report of alleged sex discrimination under the 2024 Rules or beginning with a formal complaint of sexual harassment under the 2020 Rules.  

When can’t you use informal resolution?  

A school cannot offer informal resolution where there is an allegation that an employee engaged in sex-based harassment of an elementary or secondary student. Additionally, a school cannot offer informal resolution when it would conflict with applicable Federal, State, or local laws.  

The Title IX Coordinator may decline to offer informal resolution even if the parties request to participate, including in circumstances where there is evidence of potential coercive pressure or when the alleged conduct would present a future risk of harm to others.  

What are the requirements for Informal Resolution? 

The informal resolution facilitator cannot be the same person as the investigator or decisionmaker and must be trained. The training topics differ slightly between the 2020 and 2024 Rules, but both require that facilitators learn about the scope of conduct prohibited by Title IX, how to conduct informal resolution, and how to serve impartially.  

Before initiating informal resolution, the Title IX Coordinator must provide both parties with notice of the allegations and specific information about the informal resolution process. The 2024 Rules also require notice of the potential terms that may be requested or offered. 

How can you maximize the benefits of Informal Resolution? 

When successful, informal resolution empowers and benefits both parties by allowing them to articulate their perspectives without feeling interrogated, identify meaningful outcomes, and maintain a sense of control and ownership over the process. It also streamlines the Title IX process by avoiding the formal grievance process, with all of its built-in waiting periods and other time-consuming procedural hurdles, thereby allowing the parties to obtain closure more quickly.   

Choosing and training the right facilitator is essential to having a successful informal resolution. A strong facilitator likely possesses critical “soft” skills, such as active listening, creative problem solving, patience, resilience, and a communication style that is both empathetic and clear.  

To build the strengths of your Title IX superhero, the T&H Title IX team will present a virtual informal resolution facilitator training on August 20 (K-12) and August 27 (higher education). Along with T&H Title IX team members, Judge Carlos Lopez, a former state county and district court judge, accomplished mediator and arbitrator, appointed special master, and guardian ad litem, will help your Title IX superhero learn and apply key informal resolution strategies that can make the most of this superpower.

K-12 Informal Resolution Facilitator Training
August 20, 2024
9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CDT

Register here: thlaw.com/IR-K12

Informal Resolution: Equipping Your Title IX Superhero
August 27, 2024
10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. CDT

Register here:  thlaw.com/IR-HiEd