Making a WRC complaint online

How do you make a complaint to the WRC?

You make it online, through the WRC’s eComplaint portal, reached from the WRC website. The old PDF form has not been accepted since 1 June 2025. The law requires a complaint to be made by notice in writing to the WRC’s Director General, with the details and in the form the Minister specifies Workplace Relations Act 2015, s.41(9). Today, that form is the online one.

You fill it in and submit it yourself. One form covers one person. If you have several complaints against the same employer, you add them to the same form, one at a time.

Check your time limit first

Most complaints about final pay must reach the WRC within 6 months of the breach. The WRC can accept a complaint up to 6 months later, only if there was a reasonable cause for the delay s.41(6) and (8).

Complaint about	Usual time limit
Minimum notice not given or not paid	6 months from the breach; up to 12 with a reasonable cause
Annual leave or public holiday pay on leaving	6 months from the breach; up to 12 with a reasonable cause
Unpaid or short-paid wages	6 months from the breach; up to 12 with a reasonable cause
Unfair dismissal	6 months from the dismissal; up to 12 with a reasonable cause Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, s.8(2)
Statutory redundancy	Its own rules: see below

The law does not always say which date is “the breach”. Take the earliest possible date: the date you received short notice, your last day for leave and public holiday pay, the payday for wages.

Example. Aoife’s last day was 23 October 2026. Her holiday pay and public holiday pay were not paid in full. The safer last day for a complaint is 22 April 2027. Our tool suggests filing by 12 April 2027, because saving and submitting the form takes time. After 22 April, the WRC could accept it only with a reasonable cause, and not after 22 October 2027.

Writing to your employer does not stop the clock. A letter can settle the matter, but the 6 months keep running.

For statutory redundancy, your right is kept if, within 52 weeks of your employment ending, you claim it in writing from your employer or refer it to the WRC Redundancy Payments Act 1967, s.24(1). The law is unclear about the time to go to the WRC once you have written in time. To be safe, make any WRC complaint within the same 52 weeks. See your employer won’t pay statutory redundancy.

What you need before you start

• A mobile number and an email address. You need both to save a draft.
• Your employer’s full legal name. It may differ from the name over the door. Look at your payslip, P60 or contract.
• Your dates, hours and pay, and the amounts you are claiming, with the calculation.
• Your documents, ready to upload (see below).

The online form, section by section

The WRC’s user guide lists these sections for the Employment Rights form:

1. Complainant details. Your name, address, mobile number and email.
2. Employment details. Only the county is required. It is used to arrange the hearing. Add your job, dates and hours anyway.
3. Respondent or employer. Your employer’s full legal details, and questions about liquidation, receivership and transfer of the business.
4. Representative. Answer “Yes” only if someone, such as a trade union or a solicitor, will represent you.
5. Special facilities. For example, an interpreter. No field is required.
6. General complaint area. You add your specific complaints and your documents here.
7. Specific complaints. Choose a complaint type from the list, answer its questions (those marked * are required) and choose the redress you seek. Select “Submit” to add it, then “Create” for the next one.
8. Pay details. Only where relevant.
9. Mediation. This question must be answered.
10. Submission. Consent to contact by email, and a declaration that the information is accurate. If you refuse email, the WRC writes by post.

Saving a draft

When you save, the session ends. The WRC emails you a link, which can take up to 20 minutes to arrive and works only once. When you click it, a code is sent by text to your mobile, and the form reloads. To get a new link, save again.

Choosing your complaints

Each complaint type on the portal corresponds to a law. You choose them yourself. As general information, these laws deal with the amounts most often unpaid at the end of a job:

Amount	Law
Statutory redundancy	Redundancy Payments Acts
Minimum notice	Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973
Annual leave and public holiday pay on leaving	Organisation of Working Time Act 1997
Unpaid wages, including holiday pay and pay in lieu of notice	Payment of Wages Act 1991
The dismissal itself	Unfair Dismissals Act 1977

For a complaint about the dismissal itself, see unfair dismissal in Ireland. If you resigned because of how your employer treated you, see constructive dismissal in Ireland for the rules that apply.

Some amounts fall under two laws. This guide does not say which to choose. Citizens Information, the WRC’s information service and trade unions can help.

Attachments

• Accepted: .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .pdf, .txt, .jpg, .jpeg, .png.
• Not accepted: zip files, video, recordings, executable files. For those, the user guide says to talk to your WRC case officer.
• Once a document is uploaded, it cannot be deleted. Check each file before you add it.

Useful documents: contract or letter of appointment, notice of dismissal or redundancy, payslips (the last one, and 13 weeks if your pay varies), P45, the letters you sent your employer with proof of sending, any reply, a table of the amounts, and a timeline.

Writing your summary

Keep to facts and dates: who, what, when, how much. Say what you asked for and what happened. If you are past the 6 months, explain why, briefly and honestly: the WRC decides whether that is a reasonable cause.

What happens after you submit?

• The WRC sends adjudication complaints to your employer.
• Mediation is offered only for some complaint types, and only if both sides agree.
• Otherwise, an adjudication officer hears the complaint. Both sides can be heard and give evidence s.41(5).
• Hearings are held in public, unless the adjudication officer decides there are special circumstances s.41(13). Decisions are published online, and the parties are generally named s.41(14).
• Either side can appeal to the Labour Court within 42 days of the decision. A later appeal is accepted only in exceptional circumstances s.44(3) and (4).

If the WRC decides that statutory redundancy is due and your employer still does not pay, you can apply to the Department of Social Protection. See your employer won’t pay statutory redundancy.

Where to get help

• The WRC’s Information and Customer Service: 059 917 8990. Check its opening hours on the WRC website.
• Citizens Information, free and independent.
• A trade union, if you are a member. It can also represent you.
• A solicitor. The Law Society’s “Find a Solicitor” service lists them.

This site does not file complaints, does not represent anyone and does not choose your complaints for you.

Your next steps

1. Check, free. Use the final pay check to see each amount, what is missing and your time limits. Detail for each amount: notice, annual leave, public holidays, statutory redundancy.
2. Claim in writing, if you wish. The law does not require a letter before a WRC complaint, but it can settle things. You can prepare a final pay claim letter to your employer yourself (€9, or €19 with a dated follow-up letter and reminders). It does not stop the 6-month clock.
3. The complaint. From the results of the check, a free preparation sheet lists, section by section, what the online form asks for, with your dates, a factual summary and a table of amounts to attach. No purchase and no account are needed. Free email reminders 30 and 7 days before your 6-month limit are offered there too.