Who is a claimant?
A claimant is the person who is claiming that a wrong has occurred and are looking for a solution to right that wrong.
Examples:
- I hired a freelancer on Braintrust who submitted poor work, and I don't believe I should pay the entire invoiced amount.
- I was hired by a project on Braintrust and the client is refusing to pay my invoice.
I want to start a dispute, what comes first?
Before formal Dispute Resolution begins, we strongly encourage all parties to attempt to resolve the issue amongst themselves. We have opened up the messaging portal on Braintrust to allow direct communication between two parties. The vast majority of disputes can be resolved without having to use this formalized process. In fact, starting the formalized process can be a barrier to amicable resolution.
After you have exhausted direct communication channels to solve the dispute directly, you can initiate a formal Dispute Resolution process.
Starting a formal Dispute Resolution Process:
To start, we ask you to complete this claim form. Claims include:
- The resolution you’re seeking/desired outcome
- Identifying the person against whom the claim is made
- The grounds on which you’re staking your claim
- Supporting evidence and voluntary commentary
After submitting this form, you will be contacted within 36 hours by the Jury Arbitrator. They will be responsible for walking you and the disputant through the process to ensure a smooth experience.
A Jury Arbitrator joins your case:
The Jury Arbitrator will review the claim and ensure it is complete and ask clarifying questions. Once outstanding questions are answered, they will accept the claim, combine the claim related information into an official document, and share the claim with and notify the disputant - the person the claim is against.
The disputant is notified of the claim:
Once the disputant has received the claim against them, they will have 10 days to take action. Disputants can:
- Accept the claim and settle.
If the disputant accepts the claim and settles, the Jury Arbitrator will close the case and notify BT core members with any actions that need to be taken.
- Reject the claim and create a counterclaim
- If the disputant rejects the claim, they will create a counterclaim. The Jury Arbitrator will work with the disputant to create the counterclaim, asking questions for clarity and will notify the original claimant.
The disputant will be notified three times after the initial claim is sent. If the disputants takes neither of the above actions, the claim is automatically accepted and changes are applied. The Jury Arbitrator will close the case and notify BT core members with any actions that need to be taken.
The disputant rejects your claim and the Dispute Resolution moves to the next phase:
In the event that the dispute is escalated, because the disputant filed a counterclaim, the original claimant will have an opportunity to respond. Claimants can:
- Accept the counterclaim and settle.
- If the claimant accepts the counter claim and settles, the Jury Arbitrator will close the case and notify BT core members with any actions that need to be taken.
- Drop the original claim
- If the claimant drops their original claim, the Jury Arbitrator will close the case and notify BT core members that no actions need to be taken.
- Rejects the counter claim and escalates to a jury process.
- If the claimant rejects the counterclaim, the dispute is escalated to the jury process.
The original claimant will be notified three times after the initial counter claim is sent. If the original claimant takes none of the above actions, the counter claim is automatically rejected by the claimant and the official jury arbitration takes place.
Escalating the case to the final Jury/Eyewitness Step:
If both claimant and disputant are holding to their claim/counterclaim, then the case is escalated to the jury/eyewitness step.
Both the Claimant and Disputant will have an opportunity to write an optional 500 word statement to accompany their claims/counterclaims. These will be added to the official documentation for the case and be presented to the jury.
The Jury Arbitrator will review both the claim and the counterclaim and identify subjective statements. Subject statements might include something like “the talent should have been able to complete the required work in half the time invoiced, based on the skill set and experience level they presented.” The Jury Arbitrator will select three eyewitnesses from the Jury Member volunteer list to weigh in on the statements. The eyewitnesses will be selected based on the expertise (skills, industries, etc) listed on their Braintrust profiles. Selected eyewitnesses will be given the case file, both the claim and counterclaim, and a list of the subjective statements. Eyewitnesses will have three days to offer an opinion on the subjective statements.
Based on the Eyewitness findings, the Jury Arbitrator can add a third resolution that the Jury Members can vote on. This third resolution is some middle ground between the two sides. This is used when both sides share a sizable amount of responsibility and the Jury Arbitrator believes there is an alternative option besides either the claimant or the disputant having their full sought resolution as an option.
If the Jury Arbitrator choses to add this option, then that option will be added to the case file and shared to the Jury Members.
Once the case file is completed with the claimant’s claim, the disputant’s counterclaim, additional optional statements (if provided), and eye witness statements, the jury will be selected.
Claimants and Disputants will have access to the Jury List and can each select a Jury Member to join the case. The Jury Arbitrator will randomly select a third Jury member.
The Jury will have access to all information related to the case including the original job description, talent’s proposals, and official offer. They will have three days to assess the case and make a final decision. The Jury Members will not know which other Jury Members are issuing judgements in the case until all results are received.
When the final decision is made by the Jury Members, the Jury Arbitrator will then move to close the case file.
Closing the Case:
Whenever a case is closed, regardless of the outcome, the Jury Arbitrator will write a final resolution to the case and notify Braintrust Core team of any invoice changes that need to be made. The official case file will be kept in-tact and will be made accessible to Braintrust core team members and future Jury Arbitrators. In addition the Jury Arbitrator will also create a public version of the case file that excludes identifying details. These “washed” case files are available upon request.