Wage Recovery Letter (Ireland)
Generate a Payment of Wages Act 1991 letter for the WRC. Citizens Information and Workplace Relations Commission citations.
Region: Ireland (en-IE). Currency: EUR. Rules: Revenue 2026.
Full postal address for the WRC letter.
Plain English summary of the dispute, dates, and amounts.
When asking nicely has stopped working
Marek worked as a chef in a Dublin restaurant until March. His final payslip never included the holiday pay he had accrued, and three polite messages to the owner have produced three excuses. What moves situations like his forward is a formal written demand that cites the law, states the amount and sets a response deadline — the document this tool generates. It is written for employees and former employees chasing unpaid wages, holiday pay, notice pay or redundancy amounts, before or alongside a Workplace Relations Commission complaint.
What the generator produces
You supply the employer's name and postal address, your name, the period the claim covers, the amount and the claim type, plus a plain-English description of what happened. The tool assembles a dated demand letter grounded in the Payment of Wages Act 1991, with the relevant references for your claim type, ready to print or send. The description field matters more than it looks: a specific account — dates worked, rate agreed, what was and was not paid — is what makes the letter, and any later complaint, credible.
Know the legal floor you are standing on
- The Payment of Wages Act 1991 protects wages that are properly payable and restricts deductions an employer can make from them.
- A WRC complaint must be lodged within 6 months of the event, extendable to 12 months only for reasonable cause.
- Since 1 January 2026 the national minimum wage is €14.15 per hour for workers aged 20 and over — pay below that floor is recoverable regardless of what was verbally agreed.
- The WRC provides a free online complaint form, and its adjudication service can order employers to pay what is owed.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to bring a claim to the WRC?
A complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission must normally be made within 6 months of the deduction or non-payment you are complaining about. The WRC can extend that by a further 6 months where there is reasonable cause for the delay, but treating six months as the real deadline is the safe approach — which is why sending a demand letter early matters.
Do I need a solicitor to recover unpaid wages?
No. The WRC process is designed to be used without legal representation: you complete its online complaint form, attach your evidence and attend the hearing or mediation. Many people engage a solicitor for larger or contested claims, but a clear letter, payslips and a record of what was agreed carry most of the weight either way.
What counts as an unlawful deduction under the Payment of Wages Act 1991?
Broadly, wages that were properly payable but not paid — including shortfalls, unpaid holiday pay and notice pay — or deductions made without a legal or contractual basis and without your consent. Statutory deductions like PAYE, USC and PRSI are lawful; an employer docking pay for till shortages without a contract clause allowing it generally is not.
What should I do if the employer ignores the letter?
Keep a dated copy and proof of sending, then file the complaint through the WRC’s online form before the six-month window closes. The letter is not wasted: it demonstrates you set out the claim clearly and gave the employer an opportunity to resolve it, and its dates and amounts become the skeleton of your complaint.
Build your evidence from the payslips
The strongest wage claims quote exact figures. Run the payslips from the disputed period through the Irish payslip checker to document precisely what you were paid and what the deductions should have been.
Analyse the disputed payslips