The number of cases referred to the Employment Appeals Tribunal in 2002 rose 19 per cent on the previous year, up to 6,259 from 5,257.
The figures are published in the tribunal's 2002 report, published yesterday by the Minister for Labour Affairs, Mr Fahey.
He pointed out that the tribunal was set up under the Redundancy Payments Act of 1967, and its remit was later extended to include responsibility for settling other disputes under various employment Acts.
The bulk of claims were made under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts, which accounted for 3,966, or almost two-thirds of the total.
However, the most significant increase in terms of the tribunal's time and resources was the increase to 1,311 from 957 in the number of claims under the Unfair Dismissals Acts.
Claims for holiday pay under the Organisation of Working Time Act also formed a significant part of the tribunal's work, according to Mr Fahey. The number of claims under this Act was 327, up by 63 on the previous year.
The figures also show a total of 4,602 claims were disposed of, an increase of 608 on 2001.
The average waiting period for unfair dismissal cases to come for hearing was 23 weeks in Dublin and 19 weeks outside the capital. The total number of cases heard was 1,222.
Decisions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal can be appealed to the Circuit Court, and 48 decisions were appealed in 2002. Of these 18 were upheld, four were overturned, one was struck out and 25 have yet to be heard.
A person who appears before the tribunal may represent him or herself, be represented by a trade union or employers' organisation, or by a solicitor or counsel. The tribunal can also give its permission for another person to represent a claimant or respondent.
Almost 80 per cent of the employees who appeared before hearings were represented either by trade unions or by solicitors or counsel.