Russian legislation envisages the possibility of using mediation in labour disputes. At the same time, in practice mediation in labour disputes is rarely used. In legal literature, different reasons of this situation are identified: reluctance of the parties to pay for mediation, distrust of the mediator, absence of demand for mediation. It is important to understand that an employee is usually the initiator of a labour dispute. The author of this article believes that scarce application of mediation in the settlement of labour disputes lies in the high level of employees’ guarantees and rights in the Russian labor law and civil procedural law. First of all, the Labour Code provides plenitude of employee´s rights. If the employer violates these rights, the employee can go to court; the court will require the employer to restore the employee’s violated rights. Secondly, the employee is exempt from payment of judicial expenses. Thirdly, the employee may apply to the State Labour Inspectorate and the Prosecutor´s Office. Thus, the employee does not need the mediation procedure. It is more useful for employers, but employers have little knowledge about mediation. Foreign experience shows that for successful implementation of mediation in practice it is necessary to introduce the concept of mediation in labour legislation.