Who is a Jury Arbitrator?
The Jury Arbitrator is the key to the Dispute Resolution process and responsible for a timely and fair resolution where all parties have access to organized and reliable case information.
It is the JA’s responsibility to create the case file, organize the claim and counterclaim, see all parties (Claimant, disputant, jury members/eye witnesses) through the process, and close out the case when completed.
Becoming the Jury Arbitrator:
The Jury Arbitrator is self-volunteered from the pool of Jury Members. The community votes to approve the selected Jury Arbitrator for a 6 month term.
Resources Available to the Jury Arbitrator:
The Jury Arbitrator will receive access to a shared Google file. Within the file folder, the Jury Arbitrator will have access to:
- Past Case files - in tact, and washed
- Case File Summary Sheet
- Templates for
- Case Files
- Claims
- Counter Claims
- Eye Witness Statements
- Jury Statements
- Timeline and Manual for completing each Case
- Email templates that can be used throughout the process.
- All Dispute Resolution documentation, including the Smith & Crown Recommendation documentation
Before the formal Dispute Resolution process starts:
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 or employing a Jury Arbitrator.
The start of the Dispute Resolution Process:
The formal dispute resolution process kicks off when someone completes the claim form. Once completed, this person becomes the claimant. Claims include:
- The resolution the person is seeking/desired outcome
- Identifying the person against whom the claim is made. This person becomes the disputant.
- The grounds on which they are staking their claim
- Supporting evidence and voluntary commentary.
After submitting this form, you will be notified automatically and must contact the Claimant within 36 hrs. You can use Email Template #1 to make this introduction. In the introduction, you should let them know about your role and share documentation about the process to help them understand the process.
You will begin processing the case:
- Start a Case File
- Add the case the summary document
- Alert Braintrust and ask for documents to be added to the case file:
- Proposal from talent
- Job Description from Client
- Offer Summary between talent and client
- Request email
The Jury Arbitrator is responsible for reviewing the claim for completeness (are all fields filled out) and clarity (does the claim make sense). Jury Arbitrators can work with claimants to complete these claims and ensure they are clearly communicated. Once the claim is clear, the Jury Arbitrator will update the Case File and Create a claim document.
The disputant is notified of the claim:
After the claim is completed and the case file is updated, the Jury Arbitrator will notify the disputant of the claim made against them. Disputants will have 10 days to take action. Actions disputants can take:
- Accept the claim and settle.
- If the disputant accepts the claim and settles, the disputant is accepting the resolution the claimant is seeking. As the Jury Arbitrator, you will close the case and notify BT core members of any actions that need to be taken.
- Reject the claim and create a counterclaim
- If the disputant rejects the claim, the disputant can create a counterclaim. As the Jury Arbitrator, you will work with the disputant to create the counterclaim, asking questions for clarity, and will notify the original claimant. The counterclaim will include:
- The resolution you’re seeking/desired outcome
- The grounds on which you’re staking your counterclaim
- Supporting evidence and voluntary commentary
- If the disputant rejects the claim, the disputant can create a counterclaim. As the Jury Arbitrator, you will work with the disputant to create the counterclaim, asking questions for clarity, and will notify the original claimant. The counterclaim will include:
Disputants will be notified no less than three times after the initial claim is sent. If they take neither of the above actions nor notify the Jury Arbitrator of a mutually agreed on resolution, the claim is automatically accepted and changes are applied. The Jury Arbitrator will close the case and notify BT core members of any actions that need to be taken.
After the disputant files a counterclaim:
When disputants file a counterclaim, the Dispute Resolution program is escalated. 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 disputant's counterclaim and settle.
- If the claimant accepts the counterclaim and settles, as the Jury Arbitrator, you will close the case and notify BT core members of any actions that need to be taken.
- Drop the original claim
- If the claimant drops their original claim, as the Jury Arbitrator, you will close the case and notify BT core members that no actions need to be taken.
- Rejects the counterclaim 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 no less than three times after the initial counterclaim is sent. If the original claimant takes none of the above actions, the counterclaim is automatically rejected by the claimant and the official jury arbitration takes place.
Escalating the case to the final Jury/Eye Witness 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 chooses to add this option, then that option will be added to the case file and shared with 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. You will choose how to do the random selection, but preference should be given to those that have not yet served on a case as a jury member or an eyewitness.
In order to maintain decentralization, decisions cannot be made by Braintrust Core Team members. While Braintrust Core Team members are allowed to join the Jury Pool, they cannot serve as the majority of participants. Braintrust core team members are not required to be called for each decision, but no more than one Jury Member CAN be a Braintrust Core team member.
The Jury Administrator will present all information related to the case including the original job description, talent’s proposals, and official offer, case file, claim and counterclaim. 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 judgments 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 the 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.
Working with Jury Members:
We ask that Jury Arbitrators volunteer information activity of Jury Members to the Braintrust core team, to determine if they are eligible for repeating their 6-month term.
To be eligible to volunteer again, Jury Members must act on requests from the Jury Arbitrator - unless they have reasonable cause to decline.
Please inform Braintrust members if Jury members are non-responsive to being called to serve on a case.
BTRST Rewards for Jury Members / Jury Arbitrators:
As a THANK YOU for keeping Braintrust decentralized, you'll be granted these BTRST tokens:
- +5 BTRST tokens for raising your hand and completing the Jury Volunteer form! SIGN UP HERE
- (This incentive lasts until Aug 31, 2021)
- (This incentive lasts until Aug 31, 2021)
- +50 BTRST tokens for completing a Braintrust Academy course! Every lesson you complete (this screen is one lesson) automatically adds +5 BTRST tokens to your wallet. 10 lessons x +5 BTRST = + 50 BTRST
- +100 BTRST tokens for participating as an Eyewitness or a Jury Member for a case. Each time you add your opinion, you get another reward. The Jury Arbitrator has been instructed to try to call on Jury Members equally across the Jury Pool.
- + 25 BTRST tokens for completing the Jury program. If you are an active member for the entire year term, we'll thank you with +25 BTRST for sticking with us. This means you must respond to the Jury Arbitrator when called to serve and submit your judgments within 3 days.
- + 300 BTRST tokens for each case in which you participate as a Jury Arbitrator.