Workplace Relations Commission Annual Report 2025: Key Takeaways

The Workplace Relations Commission's Annual Report for 2025 has recently been published, coinciding with the WRC's tenth anniversary. We highlight some of the standout statistics from the year and explore some key reflections from 2025.

Background 

The WRC was established on 1 October 2015, pursuant to the Workplace Relations Act 2015, amalgamating the functions of the former Labour Relations Commission, National Employment Rights Authority, and the Equality Tribunal, as well as the first instance functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal. 

Its key functions include the adjudication of employment and equality complaints and disputes, the provision of conciliation, pre-adjudication mediation and other voluntary dispute resolution services, and the monitoring of employment conditions for compliance with employment rights legislation.

As noted in its most recent Annual Report, demand and output have continued to increase steadily since the WRC was established over 10 years ago. This is certainly reflected in the RDJ Employment Team’s workload on contentious matters, which has also increased year on year.

Key Statistics and some notable trends

Complaint Applications 

In 2025, the WRC received 10,559 complaint applications, comprising of 19,068 individual complaints. This marks a significant increase in the number of complaint applications lodged, up 44% on 2024, with the number of individual complaints up 28% on 2024. This means that disgruntled employees and former employees are more likely to issue claims against their employer where they perceive a claim arising.

In terms of the substance of complaints filed for adjudication before the WRC, the most common issues complained of include:

• Pay (accounting for 26% of specific complaints received);
• Unfair Dismissal (17% of specific complaints);
• Discrimination/equality/equal status (14% of specific complaints); and 
• Terms of Employment (9% of specific complaints)

Working Time Complaints and Industrial Relations Issues/ Trade Disputes each accounted for 8% of specific complaints received in 2025.

Hearing Arrangements

Worth noting is that total hearings scheduled decreased by 14% on 2024, down from 9,020 in 2024 to 7,727 in 2025. 

A total of 4,289 Adjudication Hearings were held, with 2,506 decisions being issued. 

Perhaps the decrease in scheduled hearing is partly due to an increase in pre-adjudication mediation sessions, which were up 16% on 2024, with a total of 1,034 taking place in 2025. This marks a record number of mediations facilitated in a one-year period since the WRC’ s establishment a decade ago.

However, Fiona O’Dea, Director of the Adjudication Services Division, states that ongoing capacity pressures within the system -compounded by the increase in adjudication files -is contributing to a declining hearing throughput.

The report cites the “growing complexity of cases, the late lodgement of submissions or documentation immediately prior to hearings, the more extensive and detailed cross-examination under oath, and the need for adjournments” as impacting the scheduling of hearings.

Waiting Times for Hearing Dates and Issuing of Decisions

In January 2025, the mediation wait time between the receipt of a complaint and scheduling of first hearing was 133 days. By December 2025, this had risen to a median wait time of 174 days. This is in contrast to 2024, which saw a clear downward trend in the median wait time between January and December of that year.

Equality and Equal Status Referrals

Complaints referred under the Employment Equality Acts, increased by 30% in comparison to 2024 figures.

Disability, Race and Gender remain the three most frequently cited grounds on which complaints on these complaints were based. 

Complaints brought on the ground of disability were up 52% on 2024, accounting for almost a third of all complaints under Equality legislation (31%).

Complaints brought Equal Status Act 2000 increased by 15%, with 25% of all complaints citing discrimination on the ground of disability- up 53% on 2024. 

Significant Advisory Publications in 2025

Revised Code of Practice on Access to Part-Time Working

The WRC conducted a full review on the Code of Practice on Part-Time work throughout 2025. A revised Code of Practice on Access to Part-Time Working was accordingly drafted in 2025 and published in early 2026. For more information on this Revised Code, you can view our recent Insight on the topic here. 

The Use of AI in Submissions before the WRC

The introduction of Artificial Intelligence has undoubtedly brought changes and challenges to the adjudication process before the WRC. This issue was addressed in the October 2025 decision of Fernando Oliveira v Ryanair DAC, ADJ-00055225 (the “Ryanair Case”). The Respondent in this case had indicated to the Adjudication Officer that some case citations referred to within the Complainant’s submissions did not align with their stated outcomes. The Complainant did acknowledge that he may have used AI in the preparation of submissions, and the Adjudication Officer noted that the submissions were in fact rife with citations which were either irrelevant, misquoted, or in some instances non-existent. The Adjudication Officer held that the Complainant’s claims (of discrimination on family status and race grounds, as well as victimisation, harassment and sexual harassment) to be unfounded. It was further held that the Complainant’s attempts to rely on phantom citations to support his claims could be described only as “egregious and an abuse of process.”

In the aftermath of the Ryanair Case, the Legal Division of the WRC published its Guidance on the use of AI tools to prepare material for submission to the WRC In October 2025. This was updated in May 2026.

The WRC’s Guidance sets out that AI-generated submissions which contain hallucinations can “waste hearing time create extra work for the other party and delay the fair handling of the case.” As such, the publishing of this Guidance has been a welcome development for Employment Law practitioners across Ireland.

However, our RDJ Employment Team is experiencing an increasing number of lay litigants taking claims against their employers and former employers, using AI generated submissions and complaint details, which is adding to the cost and complexity of cases for employers.

Enforcement of Employment Law: Prosecutions and Inspections

Prosecutions in 2025 increased by 27% on the previous year, up from 175 in 2024 to 223 in 2025. Of those 223 prosecutions, 183 (82%) resulted in successful outcomes. The report links the increase in prosecutions in 2025 to:

• Increased numbers of admission of liability
• The effect of 2024’s legal services agreements, which are cited to have expanded the legal supports available to the WRC with regard to prosecutions
• Prosecutions and the associate evidence-gathering processes are beginning to stabilise again, when compared with numbers during the Covid19 pandemic 

Inspections of Employment premises were almost on par with 2024, with 5,145 inspections having taken place in 2025- just 7 inspections less than 2024 figures. 

As a result of those 5,145 inspections, 1,775 contraventions of employment law were recorded.

Conclusion: Key Observations from the WRC’s Annual Report 2025

• Disability complaints under both the Employment Equality Acts and the Equal Status Acts are on the rise. As always, employers need to mindful of how they respond to allegations of discrimination and requests for reasonable accommodation.
• Artificial Intelligence is sure to be an ongoing challenge for employers and their advisors. It is adding to the volume of documentation being submitted by complainants, all of which requires to be reviewed in advance of any hearings.
• With scheduling of adjudication hearings under increasing pressure, access to pre-adjudication mediation has never been more valuable, and 2025 statistics confirm that uptake of this service continues to grow steadily. WRC Mediation is also hugely valuable in any claims involving allegations of discrimination, harassment and/or sexual harassment as WRC mediated settlements are excluded from the new statutory provisions which restrict the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA’s) as discussed in our recent RDJ Insight on this topic here - https://www.rdj.ie/insights/the-impact-of-the-2024-act-on-ndas-in-employment-settlements-a-one-year-review.
• Employers need to be mindful of the increase in claims to the WRC being lodged by employees and former employees and need to ensure that internal processes and procedures are robust and can withstand scrutiny if challenged in this way.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.