Claiming against your employer: the fears and the protections

The question people type is "can I claim against my employer", and underneath it are three others: will I lose my job, will my employer have to pay out of its own pocket, and, for many people, will it affect my permission to be in Ireland. This guide answers the three with the law as it stands, says who pays, and gives the Board's own figures for employer liability claims. It does not say whether to claim.

The short answers

Each is set out below with its source.

Section 27: penalisation is unlawful

Section 27 of the 2005 Act provides that an employer shall not penalise or threaten penalisation against an employee for acting in compliance with the Act, for making a complaint or representation about safety, health or welfare, for giving evidence in proceedings under the Act, or for leaving or refusing to return to a place of danger. Penalisation means any act or omission that affects the employee to their detriment, and the section lists what it includes:

• suspension, lay-off or dismissal, or the threat of any of them;
• demotion or loss of opportunity for promotion;
• transfer of duties, change of location, reduction in wages or change in working hours;
• the imposition of a discipline, reprimand or other penalty, including a financial penalty;
• coercion or intimidation.

A personal injury claim arising from an accident at work sits within the section's protection, both because the claim is a complaint about safety and because the proceedings are of the kind the section names. An employer who dismissed, demoted or sidelined an employee for making one would be acting unlawfully, and a dismissal for that reason would also be an unfair dismissal under the employment Acts.

The remedy is a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC, see the glossary) within six months of the penalisation. The WRC can order the employer to take a specified course of action and to pay the employee a sum, which the Act caps. Where the penalisation is a dismissal, the unfair dismissals route is the alternative, and the two cannot both be pursued for the same dismissal. That route is employment law, not injury law: EmploymentWise covers your rights at work: dismissal, sick pay and the WRC.

What section 27 does not do is stop an employer from managing a workplace. An employer can still investigate an accident, change a procedure, or deal with unrelated performance matters. The question in a penalisation complaint is whether the claim was the reason for the detriment, and the sequence of events, written down at the time, is usually the evidence.

The insurer pays

An employer meets a personal injury claim through employer's liability insurance. The policy exists to cover injury to employees arising from the employment, nearly every employer holds one, and the insurer does the work: it receives the Board's Formal Notice from the employer, decides whether to consent to an assessment, pays the €1,200 respondent charge, instructs solicitors if the claim goes to court, and pays the award or settlement. The Board's own guidance to respondents recommends that a respondent tell its insurer on receiving a Formal Notice, and the Board's FAQ for respondents says the insurer usually deals with the Board on the respondent's behalf.

So the claim is not a demand on the employer's bank account. It is a claim on a policy, like a claim on motor insurance after a collision. An employer's premium may be affected by its claims record, which is one reason an employer may be unhappy, but that is a matter between the employer and its insurer. The Board's guidance also notes that consenting to an assessment is not an admission of liability (section 16 of the 2003 Act), which removes another reason for an employer to take a claim personally.

The chapter 9 guide on shops, landlords, employers and dog owners sets out the same process from the employer's side.

Permit holders

A personal injury claim does not affect an immigration permission; StampWise covers the permit itself. The claim is a civil matter between you and the employer's insurer. It is not reported to the immigration authorities, it is not a factor in a renewal, and the Board asks for a PPS number, driving licence, passport or national identity card only to confirm identity, in the same way for every applicant.

Where the fear is of losing the job and with it the permission, the two protections above apply: dismissal for making a claim is penalisation under section 27 and may be an unfair dismissal, and what happens to a permission when employment ends is a question StampWise answers. Injury Benefit, €254 a week in 2026 from the fourth day for up to 26 weeks, depends on PRSI class and not on nationality, and the guide on Injury Benefit and Disablement Benefit explains it.

The Board's figures for employer liability

The Injuries Resolution Board assesses claims against employers alongside motor and public liability claims. Its Award Values Report for July to December 2025, published on 8 July 2026, records that the median employer liability award rose 27% year on year, with about 1,200 employer liability claims assessed in the half-year; the release gives the change as a percentage and not as a figure. Across all categories in 2025 the Board's median award was €14,020, its average €20,559, 69% of respondents consented to assessment and 47% of assessments were accepted.

Those are the Board's figures, dated, and the figures page keeps them with their source. None of them is a figure for any one claim. The only published yardstick for a particular injury is the Guidelines' bracket for an injury described like this, which the injury checker shows, with vouched special damages added.

What a claim involves

The steps are the same as for any personal injury claim, and the guide on the employer's duty, the HSA and your evidence sets out the records specific to work:

1. The doctor, and the accident book entry, on the day.
2. The one-month letter under section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 to the employer, which the letter builder drafts. It states the nature of the wrong alleged; it does not threaten, accuse or demand.
3. The application to the Board, within two years of the accident or the later date of knowledge, with the Medical Assessment Form from your treating doctor. The time-limit checker gives the date.
4. The respondent's 90 days, the assessment within 9 months of consent, the 28 days to accept, the Order to Pay. The guide on how the Board works sets out each.

A solicitor is not required at the Board and the Board says so. A solicitor would weigh the evidence of the employer's duty and the medical prognosis with you, and cannot charge a percentage of damages under section 149 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.

The honest counterweight

The protections are real, and so is the fact that a claim changes a working relationship. An employer that behaves lawfully can still be cooler afterwards, and section 27 is a remedy after the event rather than a shield before it. People weigh that against the injury, the lost earnings and the fact that the policy is there to be claimed on. The site does not make that weighing for anyone; it puts the law and the figures beside each other so that the weighing is done with them in view.

Where this leaves you

Section 27 makes penalisation for a claim unlawful and gives a route to the WRC, the employer's liability insurer pays and handles the claim, and a claim does not touch an immigration permission. The Board's figures for employer liability are published and dated, and none of them values a single claim. The first-week checklist builds the dated list of what to do and ask for in the days after an accident at work, which is the same list whether or not a claim follows.