Workplace Relations Commission needs €1.5m to fill 25 vacancies

The WRC has been able to increase the number of hearings it held in 2021 by 75% to clear a Covid-induced backlog. In total, it held 3,320 hearings, mostly remotely. File Photo: Eamonn Farrell / RollingNews.ie

There are 25 vacancies in the Workplace Relations Commission that will require €1.5 million a year in salary to fill, it has emerged.

Figures released to Labour TD Alan Kelly via parliamentary question show that the State's employment rights and industrial relations watchdog has vacancies from the assistant principal grade down to the clerical officer level.

The WRC’s primary functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation, and advisory services. 

According to its annual report for 2021, the WRC had 204 staff, up 25% from 2015. That staffing is supplemented by a further 42 adjudication officers who are contracted to assist the adjudication service on a case-by-case basis.

The data supplied by Minister of State for Employment, Damien English, shows that the €98,000-a-year assistant principal role is due to be filled this week. However, another 20 roles are awaiting candidates from the Public Appointment Service.

In his response, Mr English said that filling the roles would cost €1.5 million a year in pay and a potential €275,000 in non-pay expenses. He added that the WRC is "an independent, statutory body" under the aegis of his department

"The WRC is staffed by civil servants of my department," he said. "There are currently 25 full-time staff vacancies in the WRC. The full year pay cost of filling those vacancies would be approximately €1.5 million. This is based on the calculation of staff costs as set out in the Public Spending Code. 

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"The code also provides that overheads e.g. ICT equipment, legal costs, travel and subsistence should be estimated at an additional 25% of the midpoint of the salary scale, calculated in this instance at approximately €275,201. Therefore, the total estimate full-year cost of filling all 25 vacancies applying these imputed costs and projections is approximately €1.79 million."

The year saw just under 400 hearings, around a month's worth, postponed and/or adjourned and held aside due to the effects of the Zalewski Supreme Court case, which last April found two sections of the Workplace Relations Act were incompatible with the Constitution.

The WRC has, however, been able to increase the number of hearings it held in 2021 by 75% to clear a Covid-induced backlog. In total, it held 3,320 hearings, mostly remotely. Another question by Mr Kelly to Mr English revealed that the Labour Court has one vacancy.