WRC inspections in hospitality: what happens and how to prepare

The letter from the Workplace Relations Commission says an inspector will call in two weeks and would like to see your employment records for the past 12 months. For most publicans and restaurant owners, the first question is what exactly they'll want. The second is whether it's all in one place. This guide explains how WRC inspections work for pubs, restaurants, cafés and hotels, what inspectors ask for, what follows if they find a problem, and how to get ready.

What the WRC inspects

WRC inspectors enforce a long list of employment laws. The ones that matter most in hospitality:

Why the WRC visits

An inspection can come from:

• a complaint by an employee, a customer or anyone else
• a referral from Revenue, the Department of Social Protection or An Garda Síochána
• a targeted sectoral campaign, such as seasonal workers
• employment permit checks
• risk assessments and routine checks

Inspectors are sometimes accompanied by colleagues from the Department of Social Protection, Revenue or the Gardaí.

Announced and unannounced visits

Full inspections involve about 130 compliance checks. The WRC says these are generally by prior appointment, with 14 days' written notice. The appointment letter asks you to have records ready for everyone you employed in the past 12 months.

Unannounced inspections also happen, many outside normal business hours. These focus particularly on young workers and employment permits, and may involve up to 50 compliance checks. For a pub or late-opening restaurant, that can mean an inspector at the door during service.

Inspectors' powers

WRC inspectors can generally:

• enter any place of work at all reasonable times
• require you to produce books, records and documents
• inspect and copy them, or take them away for as long as needed
• require information and assistance
• interview the employer and employees
• issue directions, compliance notices and fixed payment notices in certain cases

During a visit, the inspector will usually interview you or your manager, talk to a sample of staff and go through the records.

The records to have ready

The WRC's appointment letter asks for these, for everyone employed in the last 12 months:

1. Employee details: a completed Employee Details Form or a list with the same information (name, address, PPS number, job, start and finish dates)
2. Employment permits or permission to work for non-EEA nationals, or evidence one isn't needed (passport and immigration stamp)
3. Timesheets showing start and finish times, Sunday work and overtime
4. Annual leave and public holiday entitlements taken by each employee
5. Rest breaks and rest periods
6. Payslips and payroll details: gross to net, hourly rate, overtime, deductions, premiums and allowances, bonuses, service charges
7. Terms of employment, including grievance, disciplinary, bullying and harassment, and dismissal procedures
8. Register of employees under 18

The WRC's statutory records list adds your Revenue employer registration number, dates of commencement and termination, and details of any board or lodgings provided. For hospitality, add your tips notice, tips statements and records of how service charges were distributed. If anyone has taken statutory sick leave, have those records ready too: they must be kept for four years.

Our guide to working time records and Form OWT1 explains the hours records in detail.

What happens after the visit

No breaches found: the inspector sends a closing letter.

Breaches found: the inspector tells you, and a contravention notice follows. It sets out each breach, the grounds, and what you must do, usually within 21 days, including paying any wages owed. The WRC says the inspector will work with you to get compliant, and in its experience most employers cooperate.

If you don't engage or don't fix it, the WRC can:

• issue a compliance notice for specified breaches, such as missed breaks, daily or weekly rest, Sunday premium, annual leave, public holidays, notice of hours, zero hours compensation or unlawful deductions. You can appeal to the Labour Court within 42 days. Not complying is an offence.
• issue a fixed payment notice for specified offences, such as no payslip, no tips statement, not treating a service charge as a tip, no tips notice, no statement of average hourly pay, or no Day 5 statement. Paying within 42 days avoids prosecution. Citizens Information gives amounts of €1,500 for terms of employment, €750 for a tips statement or a service charge not treated as a tip, and €500 for a missing tips notice.
• prosecute.

What the WRC's own figures say

The WRC's 2025 annual report gives these figures:

• 5,145 inspection cases closed in 2025, of which 1,775 found contraventions
• 6,571 specific contraventions found across 5,596 inspection visits
• €1,578,924 in unpaid wages recovered by the Inspectorate

By sector, from the report's table of inspection activity:

The report names food service as one of the sectors that remain relatively highly non-compliant. It also notes that inspections are aimed at sectors where risk has been detected, so the figures may not represent each sector overall.

How to prepare: a checklist

Now, before any letter arrives

• One file (paper or digital) per employee with their Day 5 and full statements
• Start and finish times for every shift, with breaks
• Annual leave and public holiday records per person
• Payslips and payroll records for at least 12 months
• Register of under-18s, with proof of age
• Copies of permits or immigration stamps for non-EEA staff
• Tips notice displayed; tips statements issued; service charge records
• Sick leave records for four years

When the letter arrives

• Note the date and check you can meet it; contact the inspector if not
• Pull 12 months of records for everyone, including leavers
• Spot-check a few staff: do the hours on the roster match the hours paid?
• Check breaks and the 11-hour daily rest after late closes
• Tell your managers who'll meet the inspector and where the records are

On the day

• Have a quiet space and a person who knows the records
• Be open; answer questions; take notes of anything the inspector raises

How ShiftComplete helps

ShiftComplete keeps several of the records an inspector asks for in one place. Rosters are built and published in the app, so you're not hunting for last spring's sheet. With clocking in switched on, staff clock in and out on their phone or the shared tablet, and you can download hours worked per person as a spreadsheet for any period. Holidays are recorded per person, and there's a full audit log you can export as a CSV. It also covers the food safety side an EHO from the HSE looks at: temperature logs, checklists and incident records. It doesn't make you compliant, but it makes the records easier to find.

It costs €1.99 per active staff member per month, free for 60 days, with no card and no contract.

This is general information, not legal advice.