The annual Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) report provides a useful oversight into the type of claims being made by complainants, as well as providing statistics on the WRC's success rate in resolving those claims. The report is broken down under the various services offered by the WRC – namely conciliation, mediation, adjudication, and inspection. As an employment law practitioner, the statistics in the annual WRC report generally support and reinforce our day-to-day experience, as well as flagging forthcoming trends in employment litigation.
Trends from the latest report
The most recent report, covering 2024 claims, is no exception and highlights the following interesting statistics.
Inspection
WRC inspectors have the power to carry out notified and unnotified inspections of employers' premises, to review employment records, and seek additional employee information from employers. It is not uncommon for errors to be uncovered in such inspections which can later trigger WRC claims.
- The 2024 report confirms that 5,156 inspections were carried out by WRC inspectors in 2024, an increase of 9%. Of those inspections, 2,108 employers were found to be in in breach of employment law (40%).
- As a result of those inspections, €2.15m in unpaid wages were recovered. The bulk of those fines were made in the wholesale and retail trade, hotels, beverage service activities, food service activities, and hair and beauty services sectors.
- As the WRC often focuses on a sector where breaches have been identified, it is likely that increased inspections may occur in these sectors in the coming year.
- 171 prosecutions were undertaken with 141 successful outcomes, an increase in 27% from 2023.
Conciliation
The WRC's conciliation service has maintained a success rate over 85% in resolving disputes and remains a viable alternative for employers seeking to resolve employment disputes prior to litigation.
Claims
The latest WRC report highlights a significant rise in employment-related complaints, highlighting evolving workplace challenges and growing awareness of employee rights.
- There was an 18% increase in WRC complaints made with 7,316 applications received in 2024, representing 14,890 individual complaints (an average of two individual/specific complaints per complaint application).
- The bulk of the complaints were broken down as follows:
- 27% relating to pay issues
- 15% relating to unfair dismissals
- 14% relating to discrimination, equality, and equal status claims
- There was an 11% increase in equality/equal status claims. Disability, gender and race continue to be the top three grounds cited in equality claims, with disability making up 25% of those referrals in 2024.
- The number of equal status claims increased by 44% in 2024, which is significant. The most sizable increases in those claims were under the grounds of sexual orientation which increased by 107% and race by 105%.
The WRC continues to digitise its services with the introduction of the new e-complaint form which is expected to result in a further increase in employment claims.
Mediation
The popularity of mediation to facilitate confidential resolution remains a growing trend, with an increase in 14% of mediations offered in 2024 and a total of 894 mediations. The draw towards mediation was initially driven by the Supreme Court decision in the Zalewski case, which required WRC hearings to be heard in public. Resolutions by way of mediation increased by 56%, from 2023, with further increases anticipated into the future.
The WRC offers both pre-hearing mediation and late request mediation, the latter available after a case has been assigned to adjudication. Late request mediation allows parties to attempt resolution before the scheduled hearing, while keeping the hearing date in place. Uptake of this service remains low, with only 34 cases accessing it in 2024. The late request service was paused in the second half of the year due to staffing constraints, which likely contributed to the limited usage.
Adjudication
The WRC’s hearing activity in 2024 reflects steady growth and ongoing challenges. While more hearings were scheduled and concluded compared to the previous year, delays remain a concern due to the complexity of cases and procedural requirements.
- There was an increase of 6% in the number of hearings offered in 2024 with 9,056 claims being offered a hearing date, an average of 180 per week.
- There was also an increase of 6% in hearings concluded in 2024 with 4,779 hearings completing.
- The trend of hearings taking longer to conclude due to the increased complexity of claims (partly due to the additional safeguards introduced by Zalewski) and the late lodging of submissions remains an issue which will have resulted in increased costs for both sides.
- There was a slight decrease in applications for postponements and objections to remote hearings compared to 2023.
A total of 2,712 recommendations were issued by the WRC in 2024 (a small decline from 2023), with 16% of those decisions being appealed to the Labour Court. This is a relatively low appeal rate, with this trend remaining consistent. Given the reduced capacity of the Labour Court due to staffing issues, there are significant delays accessing hearing dates in the Labour Court at present.
Conclusion
The WRC service continues to evolve to meet the increasing number of claims being received, however the annual increase in hearings remains below the annual claims increase, making extended time frames for hearing dates inevitable.
This has been compounded by the increased complexity of claims resulting in longer hearings and higher costs. Mediation remains a popular, quicker, and cost-effective remedy for resolution, provided the parties are coming to the table with a reasonable expectations.
If you need any assistance on WRC claims, or other employment law advice, get in touch with our experts for further advice.
