Find the right route for your case

How do you work through the questions?

Read all five questions and note every one that matches. More than one can apply: a retrenchment, for example, also ends your employment.

1. Were you told, in writing or verbally, that your employment has ended? If yes, your likely route is a Section 20 representation, and the 60-day clock has already started.¹

2. Did you resign because conditions became unbearable, such as a salary cut, a demotion or a forced transfer? This points toward constructive dismissal, which still runs through Section 20 but needs a documented sequence of events first.

3. Were you told your position is redundant or the company is restructuring? This points toward retrenchment or redundancy, where fairness of selection matters as much as the fact of the layoff. If you have already been let go, the same 60-day clock from question one applies.

4. Are you still employed but on a performance improvement plan, or facing a show-cause letter or an internal inquiry? Your case has not concluded yet, so your priority is documentation, not filing. If you are on probation, read about probation dismissal first.

5. Is your issue unpaid salary, overtime or statutory money rather than the dismissal itself? That belongs with the Labour Department, not the Industrial Relations route.

What should you do with your result?

Write down which numbers matched and the date the triggering event happened. That single line, category plus date, is what a lawyer needs to tell you quickly whether time is short.

If you matched question one, two or three, treat the 60-day window as running now. Read what unfair dismissal means alongside the deadline calculator.

If you matched question four, your task for now is collecting paperwork, not filing, so an evidence organiser is a better next stop.

How can a lawyer help from here?

A lawyer can confirm which category fits once they see your letters and dates, because employers sometimes label a dismissal as a resignation or a mutual separation.

They can also tell you whether your facts support more than one route at once, and which one to lead with when you make your representation.

If you want a lawyer to act, send the number that matched, the date and what happened. An independent lawyer can reply about whether and how they can act.