WRC recovered over €1.5m in unpaid wages last year

Alan Dillon, Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail, and Audrey Cahill, Director General of the WRC.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) recovered €1,578,924 in unpaid wages in 2025, according to its annual report for 2025, published on Friday. 

The WRC found 1,775 case which were found to have contraventions of employment law during 2025. These cases involved 5,596 individual workplace inspection visits. 

"The year 2025 saw a significant increase in the enforcement of employment legislation falling under the remit of the WRC. 223 prosecutions were conducted, of which 183 resulted in successful outcomes, giving rise to an 82% success rate. This was up from 175 prosecution in 2024 which resulted in 141 successful outcomes and a 81% success rate. Overall, there was an increase of 27.5% in the number of prosecutions brought before the Courts by the WRC in 2025," the report said.

Minister of State with special responsibility for Employment, Small Businesses and Retail, Alan Dillon, welcomed the report. "In 2025, the WRC handled over 64,000 information and advisory calls, completed more than 5,000 workplace inspections, issued over 2,500 adjudication decisions with decisions delivered within a median of 39 working days, and recovered more than €1.5m in unpaid wages. This level of delivery, alongside the introduction of a new strategy and a dedicated Continuous Improvement Office, demonstrates a highly productive organisation focused on practical outcomes, compliance and timely resolution providing clarity and certainty for employers, particularly small businesses, while ensuring strong protections are upheld for employees in the workplace.”

Audrey Cahill, Director General of the WRC, said the work of the WRC throughout 2025 impacted on the working lives of nearly three quarters of a million workers in Ireland and their employers. "Whether through a brief informative phone call, a conversation with an inspector to assist an employer with compliance or through the resolution of a collective dispute, the WRC is part of the fabric of the world of work. We will continue to build on the learnings and successes of the last 10 years as our services expand into the future."