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This year (2025) marked a significant milestone in Irish employment law: the tenth anniversary of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 (Act).
The Act consolidated and streamlined Ireland's workplace dispute resolution mechanisms, replacing a fragmented system with a more efficient and transparent framework. The cornerstone reform was the creation of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
Prior to the Act, a patchwork of bodies — the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Labour Relations Commission, the Labour Court and the Equality Tribunal — had jurisdiction to hear different types of employment law complaints. The system provided multiple points of entry for redress and multiple routes of appeal, which had the potential to increase the complexity and costs of litigation. After the Act came into force, the system was simplified. The WRC became the tribunal of first instance for employment disputes and the Labour Court the sole appellate body.
Practice in the WRC has evolved since its creation, and one of the most notable developments occurred as a result of the Supreme Court's decision in the Zalewski case in 2021 (Zalewski v An Adjudication Officer & Ors [2021] IESC 24). Originally, WRC adjudication hearings were entirely private; however, in Zalewski the Supreme Court found that this was unconstitutional. The court said that public hearings were of "the essence of the administration of justice". As a result, adjudication hearings now take place in public, unless there are exceptional circumstances.
The WRC offers a pre-adjudication mediation service for suitable claims, providing a confidential alternative to a public hearing. The number of mediations has been steadily increasing since the Zalewski decision, and in 2024, there were 894 mediations compared to 501 in 2021. This is still some way off the peak number of mediations, which was 1,844 in 2018. Of course, not all cases go to mediation and not all cases that do settle. In 2024, the settlement rate for mediated cases was 59% and a total of 4,779 adjudication hearings took place.
In addition to adjudicating and mediating disputes, the WRC conducts workplace inspections to ensure compliance with employment law. The WRC took over this function from the previous inspectorate, the National Employment Rights Authority. According to the WRC's 2024 annual report, 5,156 workplace inspections were carried out, which uncovered 2,108 cases of employment law breaches and led to 175 prosecutions. This illustrates the WRC's readiness to take enforcement action for serious or repeated breaches of employment law.
The WRC also provides a general conciliation service by appointing Industrial Relations Officers to chair 'conciliation conferences,' offering a neutral and impartial third party to help the parties resolve their industrial relations disputes. In addition, the WRC provides a range of services aimed at preventing and resolving workplace disputes and disagreements involving groups of workers.
While steps may be taken to modernise the WRC, any changes in the foreseeable future are unlikely to be on the scale of the 2015 reforms. According to the WRC's Strategy Statement 2025-2027, some of its key strategic ambitions include improving efficiency, increasing access to its services, and strengthening compliance with employment law in high-risk sectors of the economy. This reflects a focus on adapting to the changing world of work and the needs of its service users.
Contributed by: Tara McCormack
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