When a workplace injury intersects with both state law and union-negotiated benefits, the resolution process demands more than legal knowledge — it calls for a careful balance of statutory mandates and contractual entitlements. Naomi Soldon, a seasoned labor and employment attorney with over three decades of experience, regularly facilitates these complex mediations. Drawing from her deep expertise in ERISA matters and collective bargaining frameworks, she plays a pivotal role in guiding unions, employers, and benefit funds toward practical, durable outcomes. In a recent mediation involving a veteran machinist’s injury claim, Soldon exemplified her signature approach: blending meticulous legal preparation with a collaborative mindset to ensure that state workers’ compensation entitlements and union protections work in tandem rather than in conflict.
Mediation always opens with a concise legal approach and model that aligns the parties on their thorough rights and obligations. Naomi Soldon circulates a joint memorandum that summarizes:
While presenting these elements in side-by-side columns, she makes sure that the debate always centers on resolution and not the disagreement over applicable law. This initial mapping transforms mediation from procedural jousting into focused problem-solving.
Rather than tackling every dispute all at once, Naomi Soldon structures the agenda to resolve issues sequentially:
Even circulating this schedule in advance makes a lot of difference, as it allows each stakeholder to prepare targeted evidence and proofs. The outcome is a much more precise and disciplined flow that prevents arguments and keeps things systematic.
When statutory benefits arise, that’s when the actual problem begins to translate. Naomi Soldon negotiates “make-whole” structures in which an injured worker receives full contract-based pay while the fund’s workers’-compensation insurer recovers defined amounts from future reimbursements.
She drafts sample drafts of repayment provisions - installment schedules tied to return-to-work dates, so both sides visualize a practical mechanism. That tangible proposal shifts discussion from abstract fairness to executable solutions.
Settlements must take into account what can happen in the future, including more injuries or changes in the medical prognosis. Naomi Soldon puts modular terms into final agreements:
By building flexibility into the settlement, she ensures the resolution endures even as circumstances evolve.
Once the terms are set, the task moves on to carrying them out and keeping an eye on them. Naomi Soldon from Arizona makes checklists for putting things into action. These lists include things like how to distribute funds, how to keep benefit-eligibility lists up to date, and how to report to state workers' compensation boards.
She sets up follow-up calls at regular times to make sure that medical providers have been paid, that employers' payroll records show any changes in wages, and that unions have updated their membership data. This degree of follow-through makes sure that commitments made in a settlement turn into real-world results.
Every mediated instance teaches us something useful. Naomi Soldon asks all participants - union stewards, employer risk managers, and fund trustees for structured input on how well the process works, how clear the paperwork is, and how fair the conditions are.
She puts those ideas together into a yearly best-practices message that goes out to everyone at Soldon McCoy. She increases the standards for the whole industry and improves the firm's collective knowledge by approaching mediation as a process to improve rather than an event to end.
Mediation of worker’s compensation and union-protected claims is basically a way for people to work together in a controlled way. Naomi Soldon uses her years of experience in trial and appellate practice to plan each session as a series of planned steps: identifying legal boundaries, putting issues in order, coming up with realistic choices, and building in long-lasting protections for execution.
The end result is not a hasty settlement, but a carefully thought-out solution that respects the law, keeps commitments, and protects the health of affected workers. Mediation, in her view, goes beyond merely negotiating; it is a model of professional honesty and actual justice.
