Discrimination at work in Ireland: the nine grounds, reasonable accommodation and the WRC

Irish equality law does not list every unfair thing an employer can do. It lists nine grounds, and says you must not be treated less favourably on any of them in getting a job, keeping it, being paid for it, or being promoted in it. The Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015 are the source, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is the forum, and the ceiling is two years' pay. This guide covers the grounds, the forms discrimination takes, the retirement-age question that drives most age cases, reasonable accommodation for disability, victimisation, and the six-month clock.

The nine grounds

A comparison is the heart of a discrimination claim. You show that you were treated less favourably than another person is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation, and that the difference is because of a ground. The comparator can be real or, in many cases, hypothetical.

Direct and indirect discrimination

Direct discrimination is less favourable treatment because of a ground. Not shortlisting a candidate because she is pregnant; paying a Polish worker less than an Irish colleague for the same work; not promoting a 58-year-old because the employer wants "fresh energy".

Indirect discrimination is a rule or practice that looks neutral but puts people of a particular group at a disadvantage, and cannot be objectively justified. A requirement to have ten years' post-qualification experience disadvantages younger candidates; a requirement to be available for a 6 am shift disadvantages carers; a requirement for a level of English above what the job needs disadvantages non-native speakers. The employer can defend an indirectly discriminatory rule by showing a legitimate aim and that the rule is appropriate and necessary to achieve it.

Where discrimination happens

The Acts cover the whole of working life, not just your treatment once you are in.

• Recruitment and advertising. Job applicants are protected and can complain, with a ceiling of €13,000 where you were not an employee. Adverts that specify an age range or ask for "recent graduates" are the recurring example.
• Pay. Equal pay for like work, work of equal value or work rated as equivalent, across any of the nine grounds, and a claim can reach back three years. Gender pay gap and equal pay covers this in full.
• Conditions, training and promotion. Who is offered the course, the project, the shift pattern, the step up.
• Dismissal. A discriminatory dismissal is claimed under the Equality Acts rather than the Unfair Dismissals Acts, which is why no minimum service applies to it. You choose one or the other for the same dismissal, not both.
• Harassment. Conduct linked to a ground, and sexual harassment, are covered in harassment and sexual harassment at work.

Age discrimination and retirement ages

Age is the ground people search most, and most age cases are about retirement. The position is this.

There is no general compulsory retirement age in Irish law. A contractual retirement age (65 is common) is age-based treatment and the employer must objectively justify it: a legitimate aim, such as succession planning, health and safety in a physically demanding role, or an age-balanced workforce, pursued by means that are appropriate and necessary. A retirement age that is simply custom, with no thought behind it, may be discriminatory.

Since 29 June 2026, under the Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Act 2025, you can notify an employer in writing, between twelve and three months before a contractual retirement age below 66, that you wish to work until 66; the employer may refuse only where the earlier age is objectively justified. Working past retirement age covers the notification and who the Act excludes.

The other age patterns the WRC sees: a fixed-term contract offered after retirement on worse terms without objective grounds; a younger worker preferred for promotion on "potential"; redundancy selection that lands on the oldest; training refused to someone "close to retirement". Age cuts both ways: a worker in their twenties passed over as "too young for the role" is on the same ground.

Reasonable accommodation for disability

Disability is defined widely in the Acts. It includes the total or partial absence of bodily or mental functions, chronic illness, learning disabilities, and a condition, illness or disease which affects a person's thought processes, perception of reality, emotions or judgement. That last limb brings depression, anxiety and other mental-health conditions inside the definition, which matters for the stress leave and mental health guide and for anyone returning from a period of illness.

An employer must take appropriate measures to enable a person with a disability to have access to employment, to take part or advance in it, or to undertake training, unless the measures would impose a disproportionate burden on the employer. In deciding whether the burden is disproportionate, the cost, the employer's resources and any public funding available are weighed.

What the duty means in practice:

• the employer must at least consider what accommodation is possible before concluding that you cannot do the job;
• that usually means consulting you, and often getting medical or occupational-health opinion, and the WRC has criticised employers who decided without either;
• measures can include adapted equipment, changed hours or patterns, a different workstation, remote work for part of the week, time off for treatment, a phased return, or redistributing some duties, though the employer does not have to create a different job or remove the core of the role;
• a dismissal for incapacity without that process may be discriminatory as well as unfair; see can you be fired for being sick.

Ask for accommodation in writing, say what you need and why, and offer medical evidence. An employer's refusal to engage is usually the strongest part of a claim.

Victimisation

If you are treated badly because you made a complaint of discrimination, gave evidence, supported a colleague's complaint, or asked for equal treatment, that is victimisation, which is a separate contravention with its own compensation. The protection applies to complaints made in good faith even where the complaint itself does not succeed. A disciplinary process, a performance improvement plan or a cut in hours arriving shortly after a complaint is the pattern adjudicators look for.

The WRC complaint

You complain under the Employment Equality Acts using the WRC's online complaint form. No fee, no minimum service, and no ES1 form: the ES1 belongs to the Equal Status Acts, which cover goods, services and accommodation, not employment. The brief points:

The six months run from the date of the act: the refusal, the pay day, the dismissal. Where the discrimination is a continuing regime, the clock runs from its most recent occurrence, but each act is safest treated as its own date. The WRC deadline tool does the arithmetic and how to make a WRC complaint explains the form.

What the WRC awards

The WRC can order compensation of up to two years' pay (104 weeks) for the effects of discrimination, and the figure is not tied to financial loss alone, so an award is possible where you kept your job. Where you were not an employee, for example a job applicant, the ceiling is €13,000. Equal pay claims bring arrears for up to three years. The WRC can also order a course of action: a policy, training, a re-run recruitment, or a return to a role.

In practice most equality awards are well below the ceiling, and the figure tracks the seriousness and the effect. Our awards register lists reported decisions by Act so you can see the range. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) can also give information, and in some cases legal assistance, on equality claims.

Where this leaves you

Work out your date with the WRC deadline tool, six months from the act. If you are in a union, ring them first; equality claims are ones unions take regularly (find your union). Discrimination claims involve a shifting burden of proof and an employer that is usually represented, so a solicitor earns their fee here more than in most WRC cases (find a solicitor).