August 01, 2022
In June, both the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Labour Court published their respective Annual Reports for 2021. Some of the key headlines from both include:
Workplace Relations Commission Annual Report
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5,993 complaints made to the WRC comprising 12,014 specific or individual complaints.
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Pay accounted for 25% (3,009). Making up the main five types of complaints, this was followed by:
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Unfair dismissal – 14% (1,688)
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Discrimination – 13% (1,596)
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Hours of Work – 11.5% (1,382)
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Trade dispute/ IR – 10% (1,207)
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3,320 adjudication hearings were held in 2021 with 1,549 decisions or recommendations issued.
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689 requests for Conciliation services with Pay accounting for 44% of issues heard.
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95 disputes were referred to the Labour Court where full resolution was not achieved/ possible at conciliation.
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Of the complaints received, 1,760 noted that mediation as an option and in 63% of these cases with over half (52%) of these resolved.
Labour Court Annual Report
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578 appeals/ referrals received in 2021.
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1,266 hearings scheduled with 339 postponements granted due to Covid-19.
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501 hearings held in the virtual courtroom.
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979 cases completed, comprising those that were decided, settled or withdrawn.
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308 employment rights appeals received including:
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81 under Unfair Dismissals Acts
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59 under Payment of Wages Act
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28 under Terms of Employment (Information) Act
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25 under Redundancy Payments Act
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Report noted that, according to the CSO, there were two industrial disputes in progress in 2021, involving 543 workers (down from eight in 2020 involving 21,704 workers).
The full reports are available here - Workplace Relations Commission Annual Report and Labour Court Annual Report.