The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) annual report disclosed a noticeable rise in discrimination complaints towards employers based on race and sexual orientation in 2023. Racial discrimination complaints saw a growth of 64 per cent from the previous year, reaching 272 cases. Conversely, sexual orientation-related complaints witnessed over a two fold increase, from 23 to 54 incidents within a year.
While charges associated with disability or gender discrimination remained most prevalent with stable numbers, there was a significant drop in allegations related to age discrimination. In 2023, 176 age-related complaints were filed, a decline from 514 cases in the previous year.
The WRC manages an extensive range of complaints that encompass accusations of public discrimination by businesses, their employees under the Equal Status Acts, and discrimination among employees by their employers under the Employment Equality Acts.
In 2023, 733 complaints were submitted under the Equal Status Acts. Out of these, disability-related complaints, membership in the Traveller community and race discrimination charges accounted for over half, with 407 complaints lodged.
The number of complaints filed under Schedule 2 of the Protected Disclosures Act, 2014, surged over three times to reach 301 due to a substantial amendment to the law that promised increased safeguards to whistleblowers, enacted at the start of the year.
The WRC was considerably more active, with 6,519 workplace inspections involving 4,727 employers, of which 2,221 were discovered to be non-compliant with their employment law responsibilities. Most inspections were triggered by reports or risk assessments.
Cooperatively, close to 100 inspections were executed with An Garda Síochána, 262 with the Department of Social Protection, and 157 with Revenue personnel. Compliance issues resulted in 125 legal cases throughout the year, ending in 69 convictions, 35 companies receiving the Probation Act, and seven leading to charitable contributions.
The majority of convictions were against companies in the food services sector, primarily restaurants and takeaways, with most violations of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 and the Employment Permits Acts 2003 and 2006.
Approximately €1.95 million of unresolved salaries was reclaimed, with nearly half deriving from companies in the food services or wholesale and retail sectors. In the initial three months of 2023, an examination initiative was initiated to ensure that the enhanced national minimum wage introduced on the first of January that year was adhered to. Out of 672 examined employers, just a fifth – 135 in total – were already abiding by the new standards. After the assessment, two-thirds, or 443, conformed to the standards and 72 cases were pending at the time the yearly report was put together, with three firms facing prosecution.
In the same year, complaints received by the adjudication service of WRC, charged with examining individual and group disputes, complaints and claims relating to employment, equality and equal status law, witnessed an increase of 11 per cent, taking the total to 12,790. A little more than one-fourth of these complaints centred around pay issues, with unfair dismissals, discrimination, and equality and equal status matters each accounting for 13 per cent.