Connecticut to Become Thirteenth State to Adopt Uniform Mediation Act on October 1, 2025

Quick Hits

• Connecticut’s Uniform Mediation Act, effective October 1, 2025, establishes confidentiality rules for mediation communications and sets standards for fairness and efficiency.
• Connecticut employers may want to review and update their mediation agreements to ensure compliance with the new law before its effective dates.

Under the UMA, which Governor Ned Lamont signed into law on June 10, 2025, there are limited circumstances in which the UMA will not apply, e.g., “a mediation

• Relating to the establishment, negotiation, administration, or termination of a collective bargaining relationship;
• Relating to a dispute that is pending under or is part of the processes established by a collective bargaining agreement…”; [and]
• Conducted by a judge of the Superior Court or by any Judicial Branch employee who performs mediations in the course of such employee’s employment.”

What the UMA Does

Created in 2001 by the Uniform Law Commission, the UMA is a model statute that provides uniform rules on the confidentiality of mediation in the United States. The goal of the UMA is to reduce uncertainty in multistate disputes by aligning national standards. However, the UMA has only been adopted in the District of Columbia and twelve states: Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. Connecticut will be lucky number thirteen.

More specifically, the UMA establishes confidentiality for mediation communications, making them generally inadmissible or not subject to discovery. Confidentiality may be asserted by parties, mediators, and nonparty participants, and can only be waived as the act permits, typically by a signed record of all holders. There are narrow exceptions, such as threats or plans for violence or crime, communications used to plan or commit a crime, assertions of professional misconduct or malpractice arising from the mediation, certain abuse or neglect matters, and limited judicial findings where the need for evidence outweighs the interest in protecting confidentiality.

Mediators must disclose known conflicts of interest, maintain impartiality, and may not report on the substance of a mediation other than to state whether the mediation occurred or terminated, and attendance if required by law or court order.

The law also modernizes the process by recognizing electronic records and signatures, accommodating remote or virtual practice, incorporating international conciliation concepts, and including severability to preserve enforceability.

Next Steps

Connecticut employers may want to consider reviewing and updating their mediation agreements and practices to ensure UMA compliance before the effective dates. This could include revising mediation clauses in employment and separation agreements to reference the UMA and its privilege/waiver rules, adding express notices about privileged communications and permissible disclosures, and confirming acceptance of electronic signatures and records.

Ogletree Deakins’ Stamford office will continue to monitor developments and provide updates on the Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Connecticut, and Multistate Compliance blogs as additional information becomes available.

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