A state watchdog has recovered over €12 million in unpaid wages from employers over the past five and a half years.
It's after over 29,000 inspections of businesses by the Workplace Relations Commission.
A fifth of the money has been returned to staff in the wholesale and retail sector.
Sinn Féin's workers' rights spokesperson, Louise O'Reilly, says unpaid wages are given back to staff for many reasons:
"Some of it is because money has been withheld by employers because they haven't been paid the correct way or because they haven't been paid directly for overtime or they haven't been paid enough money."
