Founded in 1976, the Agency is independent of Government and funded by a grant from the Department for the Economy.

[1] The management of the Labour Relations Agency is vested in the LRA Board.

The Chairperson until 2014 was Jim McCusker, former General Secretary of the public sector trade union NIPSA.

The rest of the board is made up of experienced trade unionists and industry and employment law specialists.

As part of mediating disputes, the Agency held mediation meetings between Caterpillar and unions over a "take it or leave it" offer to staff,[4] and facilitated talks between AG and GMB over a 2.5% pay offer.