What Happens at a WRC Hearing

What happens at a WRC hearing is less mysterious than the wait for it suggests. The Workplace Relations Commission runs an unfair dismissal complaint through a fixed sequence: the form, the mediation offer, the listing, the submission, the hearing, the written decision and the appeal window. This guide takes each step in order, for the employee who has lodged a complaint or is about to, with the deadline attached to each and the documents it runs on.

1. Lodging the Complaint on the eComplaint Portal

The complaint is made online through the WRC eComplaint portal. The form asks who the employer is, which Act the complaint is made under, when the dismissal took effect and what happened. Name the employer as the legal entity on your contract or payslip, choose the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2015, and add the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973-2005 if notice was not paid. The date of dismissal is the one answer that can end the case before it starts: under section 8(2) the complaint must be lodged within six months of the date of dismissal, extendable to twelve months only where reasonable cause prevented an earlier complaint, and section 1 fixes the date of dismissal as the date notice expired or, where no proper notice was given, the date proper notice would have expired. Lodge within six months of the day you were told and keep the later date in reserve. Our guide to the six-month time limit and reasonable cause explains why the extension is rarely available.

2. The Mediation Offer

After the complaint is lodged the WRC offers mediation to both sides. It is free, voluntary and confidential, and in 2025 the WRC ran 1,034 mediations of which 54% resolved. Nothing said in mediation can be used at the hearing if it fails, so there is little downside to taking the offer and a great deal of downside to taking it unprepared. The employee who arrives knowing their date of dismissal, their section 7 financial loss to date and projected, and the state of their job search is negotiating on the law. A mediated agreement is written down, signed and binding, so read every term before signing. If either side declines mediation, or it does not resolve the complaint, the WRC lists the case for hearing before an adjudication officer.

3. The Hearing Date and the 15-Working-Day Submission

The WRC notifies the hearing date, and written submissions are due 15 working days before it. The submission is where the case is won or lost, because the adjudication officer reads it before anyone speaks. For the employee it sets out: the chronology from the start of employment to the dismissal; the service and why the Acts apply; the date of dismissal and why the complaint is in time; the reason the employer gave, the written reasons under section 14(4) if you requested them, and why the process fell short of the Code of Practice on Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures (S.I. 146/2000); the financial loss under section 7 to the date of hearing and projected forward; and the mitigation record, meaning every application, reply and interview since the dismissal. The documents go in with it, in a bundle with page numbers. The Compensation Calculator runs the section 7 formula so that the loss figures in the submission are the ones you can defend from the witness table.

4. Who Is in the Room

Since the Workplace Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021, WRC hearings are held in public and the parties are named in the published decision unless special circumstances exist. In Dublin, in-person hearings are at Lansdowne House in Ballsbridge; there are regional venues elsewhere, and remote hearings are available unless the interests of justice require otherwise. The adjudication officer sits at the head of the room and decides the case alone. The employee and their representative sit on one side, the employer’s witnesses and representative on the other, and members of the public may sit at the back. There is no jury, no wig and no dock, but there is a record, and the decision will quote from what is said.

5. The Order of Business

• Opening: the adjudication officer confirms the parties, the Act, the complaint and any preliminary issue, most often service or the time limit;
• The employer’s case: because section 6(1) puts the burden on the employer to show substantial grounds, the employer usually goes first, and each of its witnesses gives evidence and is questioned by the employee’s side;
• The employee’s case: you give your evidence, usually on oath or affirmation, and the employer’s representative questions you on it;
• Documents: the bundle is put to witnesses as the evidence goes along, so the page order matters;
• Loss and mitigation: the employee is asked about earnings since the dismissal, the job search and any new employment;
• Closing: each side makes its points on the law, and the adjudication officer reserves the decision.

6. What You Will Be Asked

The questions follow the law. On liability: when were you told, what reason were you given, were you told the allegation in writing, was there an investigation, were you offered representation at the hearing, did you appeal and who heard it. On the date of dismissal: what notice were you given and when did it expire. On loss: what were you paid, what have you earned since, how many applications have you made and what happened to them, and why you have not found comparable work if you have not. Honest, specific answers from the documents are the only ones that survive questioning. If you do not know, say so; if the answer is in the bundle, give the page. The employer’s representative will test the mitigation record hardest, because it is the lever that reduces an award even where the dismissal was plainly unfair.

7. After the Hearing: The Written Decision

The decision is not given on the day. It arrives in writing, states whether the dismissal was unfair and, if so, which of the three forms of redress in section 7 is ordered: reinstatement, re-engagement, or compensation for financial loss attributable to the dismissal of up to 104 weeks’ remuneration, or up to four weeks where there is no financial loss, with a 260-week cap for a protected disclosure dismissal. There is no award for stress or injury to feelings, and the WRC does not award legal costs, so each side pays its own whatever the result. The decision is published on the WRC website with the parties named unless special circumstances were found.

8. The 42 Days and the 56 Days

Two clocks start on the date of the decision. Either party may appeal to the Labour Court within 42 days, extendable only in exceptional circumstances, and the Labour Court hears the case again rather than reviewing the first decision; from there a further appeal lies to the High Court on a point of law only. If nobody appeals, the employer has 56 days to carry out the decision, after which the District Court can enforce it. An employee who has won should diarise both dates: the first tells you when the award becomes final, the second tells you when you can enforce it. The guide to appealing a WRC decision to the Labour Court covers the decision to appeal from either side, and the full sequence is on our WRC process page.

9. What to Prepare Now

• Note the date you were told and the notice, if any, you were given — together they fix the date of dismissal;
• Request the written reasons for dismissal under section 14(4) if you have not already;
• Assemble the contract, the handbook, the dismissal letter, every disciplinary document and the payslips;
• Keep a dated record of every job application, reply and interview from the day of dismissal;
• Work the section 7 figures to the likely hearing date and keep them current;
• Take the mediation offer seriously and prepare for it as if it were the hearing.