WRC Publishes Annual Report for 2025

The Workplace Relations Commission (the “WRC”) has recently published its Annual Report for 2025. The report provides a useful overview of complaint trends, adjudication activity, mediation outcomes, inspection and enforcement work, and wider strategic developments across the employment law landscape.

Set out below is a summary of some of the key points from the Report.

Complaints and Adjudication Hearings

Complaint levels remained high in 2025. The WRC received 10,559 complaint applications representing 19,068 individual complaints, averaging approximately two specific complaints per application. As in previous years, the Unfair Dismissals Act, Payment of Wages Act, Organisation of Working Time Act and Employment Equality Act featured prominently among the redress legislation most commonly relied upon by complainants. Equality related complaints were particularly notable, with referrals under the Employment Equality legislation increasing by 30%. and referrals under the Equal Status Act increasing by 15%. Disability, gender and race remained the most frequently cited discriminatory grounds in employment equality complaints.

The report also points to growing pressure on adjudication services. 8,690 adjudication files were created during the year, representing a 30% increase on 2024. At the same time, 7,727 hearings were scheduled and 4,289 hearings were held, both down on the previous year. The WRC issued 2,506 decisions and recommendations in 2025, with a median period of 39 working days from hearing to decision. However, the median waiting time from receipt of complaint to first hearing rose from 133 days in January 2025 to 174 days by December 2025, suggesting continued capacity pressure within the system.

While remote and hybrid hearings remain available to complainants, the majority of hearings were in person, with an average split of 60% in person hearings and 40% hybrid or remote hearings.
Appeals

The report also contains useful information on appeals. The WRC was notified of 300 Labour Court decisions relating to appeals from WRC decisions and recommendations in 2025. Of these, 68% were upheld, 17% were varied and 15% were overturned.

Mediation

Mediation continued to play an important role in early dispute resolution. Pre-adjudication mediation exceeded 1,000 cases for the first time, with 1,034 mediations taking place in 2025. The overall resolution rate was 54%, while telephone mediation achieved a particularly strong 69% resolution rate. The report also notes that a further 515 cases were withdrawn following engagement with the mediation service before adjudication, meaning that a significant number of disputes concluded without the need for a hearing.

Inspections and Enforcements

Inspection and enforcement activity remained substantial. The WRC closed 5,145 inspection cases in 2025, involving 5,596 workplace inspection visits. Contraventions of employment law were identified in 1,775 cases, and €1,578,924 in unpaid wages was recovered. The WRC also conducted 223 prosecutions, 183 of which resulted in successful outcomes, giving an 82% success rate. This represented an increase of 27.5% in the number of prosecutions brought by the WRC.

AI and Other Developments

The report is notable for the WRC’s increasing focus on AI and digital capability. In 2025, the Legal Division published guidance on the use of AI before the WRC in response to a growing trend of parties using AI to draft submissions. The report emphasises the importance of human oversight and the need to ensure that submissions remain accurate and relevant.

The WRC also commenced work on an internal AI-powered chatbot trained on WRC documentation. In addition, the WRC published a ten-year anniversary case report highlighting 50 employment and equality cases.

The report is also significant in that it reflects the WRC’s tenth anniversary year and the publication of its Strategy Statement 2025 to 2027, titled “A Decade of Impact – A Future of Fair Work and Equality”. The WRC also established its new Knowledge, Information and Advisory
Division in 2025, reinforcing a broader strategic emphasis on dispute prevention, accessibility, training and early intervention.

Take Away for Employers

Overall, the 2025 Annual Report reflects a year of increased complaint volumes, continued growth in mediation, significant inspection and enforcement activity, and a clear strategic focus on digitalisation, AI and dispute prevention. For employers and practitioners alike, the report provides a useful indication of the areas most likely to generate disputes and the operational pressures currently affecting the WRC.

Links:

annual-report-2025.pdf

Authors – Ethna Dillon and Laura Killela

28 May 2026

AOC Solicitors
19–22 Baggot Street Lower
Dublin 2

www.aocsolicitors.ie