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Unfair dismissal asks whether the dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable, looking at the reason, the process and whether the employee had a chance to respond. General protections claims are different: they ask whether adverse action was taken because of a workplace right, such as making a complaint, or a protected attribute, and they are not limited to dismissal.

Underpayment claims about wages, penalty rates, allowances and entitlements under a modern award or enterprise agreement go through the Fair Work Ombudsman and the courts rather than through the unfair dismissal path.

Discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment at work have their own avenues, including the Fair Work Commission and federal and state anti-discrimination bodies, and the choice of forum has consequences for what remedies are available.

They are alternatives, not a menu you can work through one at a time. Unfair dismissal has eligibility gates, including the minimum employment period and coverage requirements, and focuses on the fairness of what happened. A general protections dismissal claim focuses on why it happened, and the law places an onus on the employer to show the reason was not a prohibited one.

Both share the same 21-day deadline, so the decision has to be made quickly and on incomplete information. That is precisely the point at which an employment lawyer is most useful, because the choice affects who bears the onus, what evidence matters and what remedies are open.

After an application is lodged, the employer responds, and for some applications the deadline to respond is seven days. Unfair dismissal matters are then listed for conciliation, an informal telephone conference run by an independent conciliator, where most matters resolve.

If the employer objects on jurisdictional grounds, such as the minimum employment period or whether there was a dismissal at all, a jurisdiction hearing may be listed before the merits are considered. Matters that do not settle go to a hearing or determinative conference, with outcomes including reinstatement or compensation.

Treat conciliation as a real negotiation. Go in knowing what you want, what the employer's exposure is and what you will accept, because the Commission is not there to give you advice about that.

Resignation is the most common. If you resigned, you were not dismissed, and an unfair dismissal application will not get up. The exception is where you were forced to resign by something the employer did, which the law may recognise as constructive dismissal, and that needs evidence rather than a feeling.

Casual employment is next. Casuals who did not work on a regular and systematic basis, along with volunteers, interns and work experience participants, are not covered by unfair dismissal laws.

Fixed-term contracts that simply end are generally not dismissals, unless the contract was used to avoid unfair dismissal laws. And the date the dismissal took effect is the date the contract of employment ended, which may be later than your last day at work, or immediate if you were paid in lieu of notice.

Costs orders are unusual at the Fair Work Commission, which is one reason the system is accessible to people without lawyers. That does not mean representation is free: your own lawyer charges you, and in some Commission matters permission is required before a party can be represented by a lawyer at a hearing.

Ask your lawyer to scope the work by stage: advice and lodgement, conciliation, then hearing. You are entitled to a written costs disclosure with a genuine estimate, and an updated disclosure in writing if the matter changes significantly, such as when a matter that did not settle at conciliation is listed for hearing.

Employment and industrial law is a searchable practice area on Victoria's Register of Lawyers, and other states publish their own practitioner searches. Check the certificate type and any conditions as well as the name.

Employers need different work from employees: award coverage and classification, enterprise agreement drafting, performance management processes that survive scrutiny, redundancy consultation obligations and responses to Commission applications. Ask which side of that work the practice mostly does, because a practice that acts almost entirely for one side will tell you so.