People Matter - May 2026

What investigatory powers does the Workplace Relations Commission have?

As you’ll know, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is the state’s principal regulatory body for employment practices, offering vital protection to workers. As well as offering services like the Labour Court, conciliation and mediation, it also has extensive investigatory powers and can wield sanctions. 

Here is a rundown of their investigatory powers and the sanctions that can follow.

When you are going to be investigated, it will probably start with an inspection and this will most likely be announced. They will write to inform you and ask you to complete paperwork to help the inspection run smoothly. In some circumstances they may arrive unannounced though, if they feel the need to do so.

WRC inspectors have powers to enter premises at reasonable times, interview you and your employees, take statements, study and duplicate employment records and if they find sufficient fault instigate legal proceedings.

This could look like sending you a letter asking you to correct your errors, carrying out a further inspection or referring you for prosecution. They can team up with other government bodies such as the Revenue.

Falling short of prosecution, they can issue compliance notices and fixed penalty notices. The compliance notices orders you to make certain changes and it is a separate offence not to follow such demands.

The fixed penalty notices which inspectors may issue can be up to a value of €2,000 and must be paid within 42 days.

Quite the array of enforcement actions! While it may sound daunting, keep this in mind: part of the aim of tough enforcement like this is to create a level playing field for employers. 

So, if it is always your intention to treat your employees fairly, these tough actions may protect you as much as workers generally; as it should restrict the ability of rogue businesses to undercut you. If you want help with compliance, please contact us.

Prioritising staff safety

According to the Central Statistics Office in 2025, shop theft has risen by 47% in the last decade. The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association estimates that retail crime  accounts for in excess of €1.6 billion worth of crime a year– something that law-abiding consumers end up paying for through higher prices. 

For those businesses and their employees it presents a dilemma: while many people’s sense of natural justice calls for action, the corporate and personal risk of employees being harmed in an altercation is generally considered too high. People before property is the understandable logic.

There are a variety of anti-shoplifting tactics you may adopt if you have a retail business, including technological ones like CCTV/facial recognition and physical security like additional barriers.

We, of course, are focused on the role HR plays. And here we would promote two actions: staff training and a written policy. These are both about empowering staff to know exactly what they should and shouldn’t do. 

Actions like developing observation skills, making credible witness statements, ensuring careful stock layout (with more valuable or nickable products made harder to reach) and conducting regular stocktakes… over direct confrontation with suspects, are the safest choice for you and them; no matter how much it sticks in the craw.

For help with either policies, training or both, please reach out to us.

And one final point on staff safety. Remember, the third-party harassment law which requires that you take reasonable steps to prevent it. Training and risk assessments are an important part of this, and we can help with these too.

Dealing with rising fuel costs

We all now know far more about the Strait of Hormuz than we would wish, and particularly its influence over prices at the fuel pumps. 

For businesses like those in logistics, it immediately (and obviously) adds to the cost base. A slightly greyer impact, though, is where staff drive their own cars for work, say care workers who get about in the community, and there will be many other examples.

You may already be having conversations with staff in this scenario, but if not, beware the extra cost they may be absorbing to perform their jobs for you. The longer it all goes on, the more likely it is you will need to have a conversation about it.

Less of a direct concern for you, but a worry for staff that commute by car to work is that their costs will have gone up too. A day a week working from home, encouraging a cycle-to-work scheme or lift shares could all be options for you to consider offsetting the cost to them without the need to reach into your pocket.

On the beach

Is your mind on the beach yet? Maybe not, but it probably is for some of your staff who have booked their summer hols.

As a manager, it is best to be prepared for an influx of holiday requests at this time. You could have too many people off at the same time, be down staff members who work term-time-only or people looking to take last minute time off when the weather is good (if it is ever good in 2026!).

Your annual leave policy will dictate how leave is allocated, first come-first served for example. Is your policy working for you?

If not, we can consult with you and prepare a new one which suits your business. And if you don’t have it already, talk to us about HR software that automates your annual leave admin, and let’s staff self-serve. Then you can get YOUR mind on the beach.

All hail International HR Day

May sees international days for Tuna, Turtles, Hummus, more seriously VE day… and we even have International HR Day. It was yesterday, in fact (May 20th, if you are reading this email on the day it is published).

So please forgive us a little ode to HR in small businesses: Our “fav-our-ite things”, Julie Andrews style:

Contracts and handbooks,

performance appraisals;

Advice Line and wages,

Calculatin’ your payrolls.

Policies, culture

Discipl’nary hearings

These are a few of our

Favourite things.

Having worked with SMEs for over two decades, we know all the competing pressures you are under. And that your staff can be the best and worst part of the business. That is why our mantra is “preventing people problems”. We tell you what you can do, not what you can’t. 

On our Advice Line retainer we are only ever a phone call/email away. And we are happy to work with you ad hoc on a project basis too. Here when you need us.

League table for sickies

Many of us are big fans of the English Premier League, but another league table from England might catch an employer’s eye. A health and safety firm recently published a national league table for a less wholesome activity: pulling a sickie.

Their calculations were based on Google searches relative to size of population of major cities for “how to pull a sickie”. It’s one league table you don’t want to be winning! Bristol claimed the dubious honour, down in the South West. The north of England and Midlands were well represented in the top five with Nottingham, York, Leicester and Hull hot on Bristol’s heels.