How to make a WRC complaint in Ireland: the form, the six months and what happens next

The Workplace Relations Commission is where almost every employment claim in Ireland starts: unpaid wages, unfair dismissal, discrimination, working time, notice, redundancy, leave. There is one form for all of them, it is online, it is free, and you can fill it in yourself. The parts that trip people up are the deadline, choosing the right Act, and knowing what happens after you press submit. This guide takes you through all three.

Before you start: the six months

The Workplace Relations Act 2015 gives you six months from the date of the contravention to lodge the complaint. The period begins on the date of the contravention, so it ends the day before the six-month anniversary. An adjudicator can extend it to twelve months where you show reasonable cause for the delay, and nothing can extend it beyond twelve.

What counts as the date depends on the complaint:

• Dismissal: the day your notice ended, or the day you were let go without notice.
• Unpaid wages or an unlawful deduction: the pay day the money was due and not paid. Each pay day is its own contravention.
• Discrimination or harassment: the date of the act, or the most recent act where it continued.
• Leave or a statutory right refused: the date of the refusal.
• Redundancy sum not paid: treat the general six-month rule as your deadline.

Equal Status complaints (discrimination by a shop, service, landlord or school, not by an employer) have an extra step: an ES1 notification to the respondent within two months of the incident, before the WRC complaint.

Work out your date with the deadline checker before you do anything else, and do not spend the time waiting for a grievance to be answered. Hoping the matter would be sorted internally is rarely enough on its own for an extension.

Which Act to tick

The form asks you to select the legislation your complaint falls under. You can tick more than one, and most complaints involve two or three. The common ones:

If you are not sure, tick every Act that could apply; an adjudicator can only decide complaints that were lodged, and a missed Act after the six months is lost. A union official will do this with you; so will a solicitor. If you are doing it yourself, the glossary explains the names.

For a redundancy that you think was not genuine, you will usually tick both the Unfair Dismissals Acts and the Redundancy Payments Acts, and the Minimum Notice Acts if notice was short. The redundancy guide explains why, and the notice guide has the bands. If the employer has gone into liquidation, the money may come from the State rather than the WRC: see when the employer cannot pay.

The online form, step by step

The form is on the WRC website under "Refer a dispute or make a complaint". There is no fee and no account to create, although you can save a part-completed form and return to it.

1. Your details. Name, address, email, phone, and whether you have a representative (a union, a solicitor, or someone else). Correspondence goes to the representative if you name one.
2. The employer's details. The legal name of the employer, which is the name on your payslip or contract, not the trading name on the door, and its address. Getting the legal name wrong is a common problem; check a payslip.
3. Your employment. Start date, end date if you have left, your job, your pay and hours. Pay matters because many awards are expressed in weeks' pay.
4. The complaint. Select the Act or Acts, then describe what happened in your own words, with dates. You do not need legal language; "I was told on 3 March that my job was gone, I was given no notice and no redundancy payment, and I believe I was selected because I had been on maternity leave" is a complete complaint. Say what you want the adjudicator to do: order the pay, find the dismissal unfair, award compensation.
5. Documents. You can attach documents, but you do not have to at this stage. Submissions and evidence come later, and the WRC will write to tell you when.
6. Declaration and submit. You confirm the details are true and submit. The date you submit is the date that counts for the six months.

Save a copy of what you submitted. The acknowledgement email will carry a reference number; use it in every later contact.

If the form is not working

The online form has had periods where it would not load, timed out mid-way, or rejected an upload. Three things to try:

• a different browser or a different device, and a fresh start rather than a saved session;
• shorter answers in the free-text boxes, with the detail to follow in your written submission;
• a smaller or different format for any attachment, or no attachment at all.

If it still fails, the same page has a PDF complaint form. Print it, fill it in, sign it and post it to the WRC's Carlow office; the date it is received is the date that counts, so send it in good time and keep proof of posting. A posted form is as valid as an online one.

The Infoline is 0818 80 80 90. The staff can tell you whether a complaint has been received, which Act covers a situation, and how to get the PDF form. They cannot give legal advice or say whether you will succeed.

What happens after you submit

Acknowledgement. The WRC emails an acknowledgement with your reference number, usually within a few days. If you hear nothing within two weeks, ring the Infoline.

The employer is told. The WRC sends a copy of the complaint to the employer and asks for a response. The employer's reply is sent to you. It is normal for the reply to deny everything; do not be put off by it.

Mediation is offered. Most complaints are offered mediation first. It is free, voluntary and confidential, conducted by a WRC mediator by phone, online or in person. Either side can decline. If it produces an agreement, that agreement is binding and the complaint is closed; nothing is published. If it does not, the complaint goes on to adjudication and nothing said in mediation can be used there.

Adjudication. An adjudication officer is assigned and a hearing is scheduled. You will be asked for a written submission and your documents a set number of days before the hearing, and the employer's are sent to you. Hearings are generally in public since the Supreme Court's decision in Zalewski in 2021, evidence is given on oath or affirmation, and the parties are usually named in the published decision, with anonymisation in some categories. Some hearings are held remotely.

The decision. A written decision is issued to both sides and published on the WRC's website. It states what was found and what, if anything, the employer must do: pay a sum, reinstate, re-engage, or comply with the Act. The awards register curates what adjudicators have ordered under each Act.

Appeal. Either side can appeal to the Labour Court within 42 days of the decision. There is no fee unless the appellant did not attend the WRC hearing without good cause, in which case a €300 fee applies. The Labour Court hears the case afresh.

Enforcement. If the employer does not comply with a decision that was not appealed, you apply to the District Court, which can order compliance and treat compensation as a judgment debt.

How long it takes

In 2025 the WRC received 10,559 applications, up 44% on the year before, carrying 19,068 individual complaints. Pay complaints were 26% of the total, unfair dismissal 17% and equality 14%. The median wait from complaint to first hearing was 133 days in January 2025 and 174 days by December. Expect six months or more from submission to hearing, and a further period for the decision.

Costs and representation

The WRC does not award costs to either side. If you bring a solicitor, you pay the solicitor whatever the outcome; if you are in a union, it represents you at no charge. Many complainants represent themselves, and the adjudicator will explain the process. You can also bring a family member or a colleague. Legal aid does not cover WRC cases.

A short checklist before you submit

• The date of the contravention, and the six-month date from it.
• The employer's legal name from a payslip.
• The Acts you are ticking, and whether any have been missed.
• A plain account of what happened, with dates.
• What you are asking the adjudicator to order.
• A saved copy of the submitted form and the reference number.

Keep every letter, email and payslip from here on. The case file tool gives you a private, dated timeline in your own browser to hold the events and the WRC clock.

Where this leaves you

Run the deadline checker first: it gives you the date your six months end, the outer twelve-month limit, and a calendar reminder, so a slow grievance or a broken form does not cost you the claim. If you are in a union, ring them first: the union page explains what they do for members at the WRC and how to join if you are not in one. If you are not, and the complaint involves a dismissal, discrimination or a large sum, a solicitor can take it from here; the enquiry page explains how that works on this site.