Loading
Loading page.
ChecklistLabour LawMedium
Retrenchment Checklist
Checklist for gathering consultation, selection criteria, severance, and retrenchment process documents.
Time to prepare2-5 hours
Before you start
0/4 completedNeed help with this checklist?
Get support from a lawyer who works with labour law matters.
Before consultation
0/5 completedOn consultation day
0/3 completedAfterwards
0/3 completedWhen It Applies
Your employer has started or threatened a retrenchment, restructuring, redundancy, or operational-requirements process.
You need to prepare for consultation, settlement, CCMA facilitation, or legal advice about retrenchment fairness.
Not For
- Final advice on whether a retrenchment is automatically unfair, procedurally unfair, or substantively unfair.
- Large-scale retrenchment strategy, strike action, or Labour Court litigation without specialist advice.
Documents
- Section 189 notice
- Consultation minutes
- Employment contract
- Payslips
- Job description
- Organogram
- Selection criteria
- Vacancy list
- Final payslip
- UIF documents
- Certificate of service
Timeline
- When notice arrives: save the notice and proposed consultation dates.
- Before consultation: prepare alternatives, questions, and selection-criteria concerns.
- Before signing: review severance, final pay, and release wording.
- After termination: save payment proof and calendar any dispute deadline.
Tips
- Send important questions in writing.
- Ask for the information needed to consult meaningfully.
- Separate business reasons from selection fairness.
- Do not assume a package is correct until notice, severance, leave, and benefits are checked.
Warning Signs
- Consultation feels predetermined.
- Selection criteria are unclear or appear discriminatory.
- Vacancies exist but redeployment is not discussed.
- You are asked to sign a full-and-final agreement immediately.
Official sources
- Labour Relations Act and Code of Good Practice: DismissalOperational-requirements dismissal, consultation, and fairness context.
- Basic Conditions of Employment ActSeverance, notice, leave, and final-payment context.
This checklist is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice.
Speak to a Lawyer