Most people who ask what to expect at a WRC hearing are really asking about the whole road: the form, the wait, the mediation offer, the submission, the hearing itself, the written decision and what happens if either side appeals. This page sets out the Workplace Relations Commission process for an unfair dismissal claim in the order it happens, with the documents each stage runs on and the deadlines that cannot be missed. Five dates decide most cases before a word of evidence is heard: six months to lodge, twelve months at the outside, 15 working days for the submission, 42 days to appeal and 56 days for the employer to comply.
The WRC Complaint Form and the Six-Month Clock
The complaint goes in through the WRC eComplaint portal. The form asks for the parties, the Act the complaint is made under, the date of dismissal and a short account of what happened. The employer must be named as the legal entity that paid you, which is the name on your payslip or contract rather than the trading name over the door. The Act is the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2015. The date of dismissal decides whether the complaint is in time at all. 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 on which proper contractual or statutory notice would have expired. Employers argue for the earliest reading, so lodge within six months of the day you were told and keep the later date in reserve. The WRC Deadline Calculator works your dates through, and our guide to the six-month time limit and reasonable cause explains how little the extension forgives.
WRC Mediation: Free, Voluntary and Confidential
Once the complaint is lodged the WRC offers mediation before any hearing is listed. It is free, it is voluntary for both sides, and it is confidential, so nothing said in it can be used at a hearing if it fails. In 2025 the WRC ran 1,034 mediations and 54% resolved. It works because the employer is looking at a public hearing with its managers on oath, the employee is looking at months without an income and a decision that may award less than the loss, and both are paying their own costs whatever happens, because the WRC does not award legal costs. A mediated agreement is written down and signed, and it binds both sides, so the terms need to be right before anyone signs. Richard O’Shea is a Law Society accredited mediator, and the firm prepares every mediation as if the hearing were going ahead, because a party that arrives with its submission, its section 7 loss calculation and its evidence of mitigation already in hand negotiates from the position the law gives it rather than from hope.
Written Submissions: 15 Working Days Before the Hearing
If mediation is declined or fails, the WRC lists the complaint for hearing before an adjudication officer, and each side must lodge its written submission 15 working days before the date. The submission is the case. For the employee it sets out the chronology, the service, the date of dismissal and why the complaint is in time; the reason the employer gave and why it does not meet section 6(1) or 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 evidence of mitigation, meaning every application, reply and interview since the dismissal. The documents go in with it: the contract, the handbook, the dismissal letter, the written reasons requested under section 14(4), the disciplinary correspondence, the payslips and the job-search record. An adjudication officer who has read a clear submission and a bundle in order arrives at the hearing already understanding the case.
The WRC Hearing: What to Expect
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. Evidence may be taken on oath. Remote hearings are available unless the interests of justice require otherwise, and in-person hearings in Dublin are held at Lansdowne House in Ballsbridge, with regional venues elsewhere. The hearing is less formal than a court but it is not informal: the adjudication officer manages it, each side’s witnesses give their evidence and are questioned by the other side, documents are put to them, and the parties or their representatives make closing points on the law. Because the burden under section 6(1) is on the employer, the employer usually goes first. The decision is not given on the day; it follows in writing and is published. The step-by-step account in what happens at a WRC hearing covers who is in the room, what you will be asked and how to answer it.
The Decision and the Labour Court Appeal: 42 Days
Either party may appeal the adjudication officer’s decision to the Labour Court within 42 days of the date of the decision, and the Labour Court can extend that only in exceptional circumstances, a narrower test than the reasonable cause that governs a late complaint. The appeal is not a review of the adjudication officer’s reasoning. The Labour Court hears the parties and the evidence again and reaches its own decision, so an employee who won at the WRC may find the employer appealing and the whole hearing running a second time, and an employee who appeals a low award puts the finding of unfairness itself back in play. From the Labour Court a further appeal lies to the High Court on a point of law only, which means the Labour Court’s findings of fact are final. Neither the WRC nor the Labour Court awards legal costs, so each side pays its own at both stages; court proceedings are different and are explained before any are issued. Our guide to appealing a WRC decision to the Labour Court covers how to decide whether to appeal and what the 42 days actually require.
Enforcement: 56 Days, Then the District Court
A WRC decision that is not appealed must be carried out by the employer within 56 days of the date of the decision. If it is not, the employee can apply to the District Court, which can order the employer to comply. A decision is a piece of paper until it is paid. The 42-day appeal window and the 56-day compliance window run from the same date, so by the time an employer is in default the question of appeal has already closed. Orders of reinstatement and re-engagement are enforced the same way. The employee’s own legal fees are not recoverable from the employer at any stage and are paid from the award.
Documents and Deadlines in One Place
- Six months from the date of dismissal to lodge the WRC complaint (section 8(2)); twelve months at the outside, and only for reasonable cause;
- The date of dismissal is the date notice expired, or would have expired if proper notice had been given (section 1);
- 21 days from a protected disclosure dismissal to seek interim relief in the Circuit Court, or such longer period as the Court allows;
- 15 working days before the hearing for written submissions;
- 42 days from the date of the WRC decision to appeal to the Labour Court, extendable only in exceptional circumstances;
- 56 days for the employer to carry out an unappealed decision, after which the District Court can enforce it.
The firm acts mainly for employees in this process and also defends claims for employers, never on both sides of the same dispute. The employer’s view of the same timeline is on our page for employers defending an unfair dismissal claim, and the substance of what the employer must prove at each stage is on the unfair dismissal claims page.
Facing the WRC? Start With Where You Are
Bring the complaint, the decision if there is one, and the dates. One consultation establishes where you are in the process, what is due and when, and whether mediation, hearing or appeal is the right next step.
Call 01 5827148